#also OV is a hit or miss

[cessmaga]

I don't get why cn wanted ben and kai to be that "one bickering couple" where ben bickers with his partner a lot is too out of character for him

I don't think ben is that aggressive when it comes to conflict, yeah he could argue with his lover but not in a sense petty way, if anything he would try to apologize and fix things, and he's not that petty to be that "couple who bickers with his lover a lot but secretly loves them"

also there has to be a real reason ben would argue with his partner a lot not some petty reasons

there dynamic is way too similar to OS ben and gwen's dynamic than an actual loving couple 😭

[kariachi]

Sorry-not-sorry I'm back on my normal 'Kevin and Argit were so small' bullshittery.

Because they fucking were. Kevin was twelve when Servantis tossed everybody, and Argit couldn't have been far off. They were middle school aged. 'Puberty would be starting about now if we weren't wandering the Null Void and therefor likely not eating near enough' aged.

A pair of children, with minimal education, no paperwork, no homes, no guardians. Wandering the Null Void and then the Milky Way, on their own. One a prime target for the slave trade, both prime targets for adults looking to take advantage of them (*coughcoughOttocoughcough*). With only as much security as they could provide themselves and each other. Only able to rely on themselves for the basic necessities of life.

And then this show has the audacity to try to tell me that they turned to crime due to poor morality. That they're money focused because they're just naturally greedy. That they don't trust people and look out for themselves because they're bad people that either will always be bad people or will only improve because of the power of Tennysons.

What options were there for them? What jobs are there in the Null Void? What jobs are there in the galaxy that'll hire barely-teens, if even that, with no paperwork or educations, that wouldn't ruin them as badly and pay worse than the crime they already had experience with? Will keep them fed and clothed and sheltered? When one of them already has a criminal record, for violent crimes at that? When there's nobody there to stop even the 'good' adults from taking advantage of them?

The show will sit there and tell you that Kevin's violent crimes were the result of a rough childhood, but he and Argit's non-violent ones? Totally on them, no excuse, wholly a matter of greed and not giving a shit about other people. Fucking bullshit. This is a pair of kids who had to grow up way too fast, up against an existence that saw at least one of them as easy profit, with nothing but themselves and each other, and no opportunities. They're a pair of traumatized kids who grabbed the opportunities available to them with both hands and were molded by the problems they faced.

Of course they're money-focused, unlike the Tennysons they don't and haven't had anybody making sure they had enough to get by. They've had to support themselves and live with the constant worry that something is going to go pear-shaped and they'll have nothing.

They spent years with anybody and everybody being a potential threat (even between the two of them, Argit's noting that Kevin's snapping while he worked for the Rooters was the worst he'd seen 'before or since' makes it quite clear he's seen him on and passed the edge at least as much if not more than we have), of course they're going to be slow to trust, quick to toss people aside, and unwilling to help their enemies without some sort of payout, they've been burned before.

Just- Damnit these two come from some shitty fucking situations, the effects they had on them are obvious if you bother to fucking look, and they both deserved better than the series just going "oh yeah they're assholes what do you expect they're criminals" and moving the fuck on. Like, for fuck's sake at least acknowledge that they're like this because life was a fucking lead pipe to the teeth to them! We know Kevin's situation was shit even before they met, we got to see it, but even if Argit had a perfectly good life beforehand (unlikely) the earliest we see him is being held captive for illegal experimentation purposes by law enforcement! These two have been through shit! At least acknowledge it!

Fuck, they could've replaced Color of Monkey with that, hitting on the differences between how Kevin and Argit adapted to their circumstances, give us upfront the Tennysons being a safety net that let Kevin heal (rather than just 'oh the Tennysons taught him morals because they're the Good People') while Argit's issues and lack of security kept him stagnant. It would go better with what we see of him over the course of OV leading up to the Rooters arc, and what we're shown in the Rooters arc. Give us him still being far from great or on the up-and-up but improving with the stability that comes with his 'hero' status, a repairing relationship with Kevin after that arc, and a flourishing, above-board business. Rather than backpedaling on any good the writers had thrown at him like they'd realized they were coming up against a cliff.

Shit that makes you want to get the writers by the shoulders and shake them mercilessly.

[scribblesofagoonerr]

— Separate ‖ | © scribblesofagoonerr

pairings: leah williamson x jordan nobbs x separate reader!buddy x chaos fc reader!monkey

summary: buddy is reunited with monkey, and there up to no good already.

here's the start of the cross over nobody asked for but i wrote anyways, featuring everyones' chaotic fc reader, monkey.

also thank you to @alotofpockets for putting up with me sending my ideas for this and word jumble.

Sure enough with a bit of encouragement, you slowly came out of your shell enough to move to sit in Leah's lap and get in all of the cuddles that you had missed throughout the last week.

Until you hear the front door open, and you knew who it is straight away.

"Ello'? I'm home!" You hear your favourite person shout aloud and your quick to jump up from Leah's lap and race towards the front door, "Where's my favourite little buddy?" She asks.

"Here I am!" You all but launch yourself into the arms of the older girl.

"There you are!" Monkey exclaims, squeezing you gently as she spins you around in her arms, "I've missed you loads!"

"I've missed you too!" You can't help but giggle as your lowered back onto the floor, "Look! We're doin' Lego!" You pull her in the direction of the lego blocks scattered on the floor where you had left Leah and Jordan in favor of Monkey.

"Aw, wow! So you like the lego set, huh?" Monkey grins as she slumps down on the floor and your quick enough to drop down into her lap, the two older women completely forgotten about now that your favourite person is here.

"She's been waiting for you to come back," Leah states, smiling at the pair of you together.

Monkey gasps dramatically before she beams a wide smile, "You have? Well I'm here. Where've you been?" She asks, tickling you under your ribs.

"I went on holiday with my mama, silly!" You exclaim, bursting into a fit of giggles right there, "Where you been?" You wonder, curiously.

You know Leah and Monkey went somewhere, but you can't exactly remember where.

Or if you were told, you didn't really listen much to it.

"Oooh right, of course you did!" Monkey facepalms herself and you can't help but laugh again, you sometimes think your favourite person is the funniest person in the world, "I went to Nashville and I was in my cowgirl era. I even had a lad try hit on me and I told him to kiss my--"

"Monkey!" Leah exclaims, cutting the girl off, "She's 3, she doesn't need to hear that!" She scolds her, which you find it even funnier.

Monkeys' always known to get herself into trouble, sometimes you're corrupted and like to join in with her as well.

It's even more fun when Kyra comes to visit as well.

The three of you have so much fun!

You find it funny sometimes when you watch Leah and Kim tearing their hair out with your favourite person.

"I wasn't even gonna say anything," Monkey holds her hands up in self surrender, smirking at Leah.

You look at Leah to see her giving Monkey one of her usual stern facial expressions. You see it happen a lot, but never usually directed towards you at least.

It's always Monkey.

"And just like that we're forgotten about," Jordan jokes, seeing you happy enough again with being in the company of monkey, "I should probably go." She suggests to Leah, knowing it's the easier option that wouldn't lead to tears.

Leah hums in agreement as she watches you and Monkey together, "That's probably a good idea," She replies before she turns to look at you, "Mamas' gonna go home now, Buddy. Shall we go and say bye?" She questions.

You nod and scramble up from the older girls lap to throw yourself directly at Jordan's legs, "Bye, Mama! 'Ove you!" You exclaim.

"I love you too, my little Buddy," Jordan crouches down and plants a gentle kiss on the top of your forehead, "Be good for your mummy, okay? No getting led astray either." She tells you, glancing in the direction of your favourite person.

"Accusations. False accusations!" Monkey screeches loudly and dramatic, which of course makes Leah roll her eyes in response, "I don't know what yer' even talkin' about there!" She insists, shrugging her shoulders.

"You and I both know what I mean," Jordan remarks, chuckling at the older girl as she ruffles her hair, having the height advantage being stood up while Monkey is still sat down.

"Pft," Monkey scoffs and stands up off the floor, "I'm still an inch taller than you!" She insists, smirking at Jordan.

Leah shakes her head at the antics of your favourite person, "That's enough, Monkey!" She states, firmly before the older girl can continue to wind up Jordan any more, "Stop being a menace, go and do something productive!" She tells her.

Monkey pouts and slumps her shoulders, "I'm bored though and I can't talk to Kyra because she's asleep still!"

"Kyra!" You squeal at the mention of the Aussie girls' name, "I wan' talk to Kyra!" You insist.

Leah gives Monkey a pointed look, "See? Look what you've done now," She pinches the bridge of her nose.

"Oops," Monkey gives the blonde a guilty facial expression.

"I wan' speak to Kyra!" You insist once again.

Shaking her head, Leah turns to look at you, "Buddy, you'll see Kyra when she comes back home, but you can't talk to her because it'll be night time for us when she's awake." She explains.

"I wan' speak to Kyra," You whine, not entirely understanding the whole aspect of time zone differences.

"Ooo, Buddy! I know who we can talk too!" Monkey perks up with the idea as she grins at you, "How about we go and talk to Lessi instead?" She suggests, hoping that you'll agree to that.

"Lessi!" You cheer excitedly, forgetting about the Aussie women for now.

"Yeah, Lessi!" Monkey repeats before she sweeps you up into her arms, "You wanna go fly around the house?" She wonders, knowing exactly what you like and don't like.

"Yeah! Yeah! Fly!" You squeal in delight, squealing even more as Monkey balances her hand under your tummy and you're in the air within seconds.

"All aboard Russo airlines," Monkey jokes, making fun of the blonde for her celebration, "Neeeeeawww!" She makes the noise of a plane, running through the house with you in her arms.

"Don't drop her, Monkey!" Leah and Jordan both shout in sync, almost both of them having heart attacks seeing it happen.

"Sounds like you got your hands full there," Jordan remarks, shaking her head.

Leah chuckles slightly in response, "I'm not sure who's more of a handful at times," She replies.

"Definitely Monkey," The older women out of the two replies, grinning at her ex-girlfriend, "Right, I'll be goin' then. Her teddies in the front pocket of her backpack if she wants it."

"Thanks," Leah nods in agreement, "I'm sure she hasn't asked for it yet when she loves that thing." She adds.

That thing that Leah was referring to was Mr. Bear, a stuffed brown bear that was gifted to you from your great-grandma and ever since you got him, you carried him everywhere with you, even going as far as almost dropping him out of the window one time and Jordan had to stop the car and jump out to retrieve him to save any of the tears.

"Yeah, me neither," Jordan agrees with her ex, "And her blanket, if she needs it is--"

"Jord, don't worry. I've got it, Leah interjects, chuckling slightly at her ex girlfriend, "She's my daughter too, remember? I can figure these things out."

"Yeah, of course, sorry force of habit," The older women out of the two gives her ex a sheepish smile and nods, while shoving her hands in her pockets, "Ehm, I'll be here on Friday at 2 to collect her for the weekend then." She tells her.

"I'll see you then," Leah nods curtly, opening the front door to let Jordan out, "Safe drive back."

Jordan smiles slightly at Leah, "Yep, thanks. See you on Friday." With that, she waves at her ex girlfriend before she departs down the driveway and climbs back into her car for the long drive back home.

© scribblesofagoonerr

[hyewka]

*ೃ unconventional sex

synopsis. where they'd like to fuck outside of the boring ol’ bedroom.

warnings/notes. mostly sub!reader (beomgyu's a tad bit subby), no protection + creampie, mention of impregnation for soobin, dry humping, fingering, groping, bulge kink, reader's older with beomgyu (use of noona honorifics), barely proofread + varying lengths with each extract, does not include yeonkai !

★ choi soobin |

ever since the overwhelming amount of layoffs widespread throughout your entire company had started to hit your specific department, you've been coming from work exhausted, ready to slip off your torturous heels the moment you key your door open, stumbling over to your bedroom to finally throwing yourself on the comfort cushion you've been drooling about all day. usually, you'd take the time to stare up your ceiling contemplating the day, and the day before, and the day before...until your brain picks up the overly familiar rattle of the door—each time, startling you awake with the realization that you were about to drift to sleep in your work clothes, without taking a shower, makeup still very much on your face. during these days are you especially grateful with your boyfriend's struggle with the door despite living here for the past two years has persisted, because god knows soobin would've opted to let you sleep instead of waking you up.

soobin gets home, you go take a shower, then prepare yourself for bed as he enters the bathroom. its a routine you've grown accustomed to. today was no different— your brain is on its own lookout of soobin's signal entrance. when you hear it, your shut eyes immediately fly open like muscle memory, your half-nap reached its inevitable end. you don't expect the moment you sit yourself up, for soobin's large figure to come through the door, wobbly as he walks over to you and engulf you in the biggest, most suffocating, loving embrace, basically tackling your body back down on your bed. "soobin?" you whisper, his cologne overpowering your sense as you quickly realize that your body compared to his would not survive if he stayed another full minute on top of you.

"i have to go shower baby." you wheeze out, "and you're about to crush me." he nuzzles his nose in the crook of your neck as retaliation, his breathing pattern almost immediately syncing to yours. "shhh, i missed you." he whispers groggily— you sure weren't the only one drained after work.

soobin was a big baby in that sense, feeling his lips forming into a pout against your neck. the paradox of him being a broad man with a towering figure makes it a lot more endearing, and also hilarious, making you burst into a series of giggles...but not enough to let him continue crushing every bone of your body. "soobinnn," you whine trying to wriggle yourself off his hold but failing for the hundredth time, "i really, urgently, seriously need to take a shower."

after a few beats of silence, and you thinking you might just give up and fall asleep under him, he speaks up, lifting his head from the comfort of your breasts, his eyes doe-like, "let's take one together then." you think he's joking and so naturally you're sent to another fit of giggles and half laughs...until it quickly dies down with his very more-than-serious face, making your brows perk up in disbelief, eyes wide. "hey, you're acting like it's the first time!" he defensively retorts at the judgy expression spread across your face before his lips form into a comically exaggerated pout, his bottom lip sticking out, making sure to force his dimples as bonus. "plus, we'd be saving up on water bills ...you know?"

you should've known better, and really thought it over, because a shower with soobin would never end without having your cheek pressed against the shower's glass panel, steam long fogging up the view, his fingers tightly intertwined with yours, palm flat against the panel, head drooped down to your neck, sloppy purple splotches displayed all over, feather kisses on your overly fresh hickeys, his hips unrelenting, fucking your cunt closest thing to doggy style space would allow— the brutal, pornographic sound of skin slapping on skin mixture with your uncontrolled moans almost loud enough to drown out the shower head.

his length slips in and out of your cunt in a rhythmic speed, his breathing so heavy and whines so loud, getting your legs to buckle when he hits your cervix, "shit, soobin— soobin, slow down" your mewls hitch when water runs down from your face to the entrance of your mouth, choking momentarily. your head is foggy, light with ecstasy the more he drills his dick far deep inside you— eyes slowly rolling to the back of your head, feeling your energy quickly replenish. but soobin isn't done yet, oh, far from it.

you're too far gone to differentiate between water and your tears as soobin turns you around swiftly, making sure he doesn't slip out as his dick's still far buried in your warm pussy, switching positions as he pushes you to have your back against the tiled shower wall. you muster the energy to weakly shake your head, your chest heaving, "c-can't, binnie, i can't—no more-!" but soobin can't help himself, so horny over the reveal of your messy face, red with a mixture of drool and water seeping out the corner of your pink swollen lips as a result of his rough kissing. his calloused finger display over the bulge in your tummy and soobin loses the last bit of his sanity. "sorry baby," he says with much pity, his large hands positioning your wobbly legs to cling around his waist, "i just missed you...just need you—need my pretty's cunt so, so bad."

the steam enough to make both of you light headed as soobin's thrusts slower than before, thrusts calculated so surely and patient, your hand claw at his bare back every time he roughly hits a spot, hyper aware of every vein against your walls, soobin's head falling back as he groans, mouth slightly open at feeling your tight pussy clench around his dick, the running water hitting his face, hair further plastering to his forehead, his slippery hands bruising your waist the tighter his hold gets—soobin's never this rough, to the point your body jerks when his large hands start fondling your perked up tits, lips parted as he blatantly stares down.

"gonna fuck a baby into you," he breathes out crazed, his long lived fantasy of getting you full and big with his baby driving him to roughly land a passionate, wet kiss before attaching his lips to your hard nipples, sucking so earnestly while his thrusts become unrelenting, picking up, erratic as he detaches, eyes fixated on the long string of saliva connecting his mouth and your swollen nipple, oh how addicted to you he was. with every frantic thrust, your breasts bounced, slapping together, a lewd view he could stare at for hours...and hours...and hours.

you could almost pass out from the overwhelming sensation, your body long overheated, fog submerging around your feet, but soobin's degrading laugh gets you to flutter your eyes open, "fuck, these breasts would look so pretty swollen—don't you think? you'd like that right?" your lids are heavy over your eyes as you sniffle your runny nose, not exactly processing his words. "you want me to get you pregnant, don't you?"

bonus. soobin who bathes you, a sweet, caring boyfriend making sure to keep your smaller figure protected, washing your hair so in love with every aspect that makes up who you are—knowing he made the right decision with choosing you. your loving boyfriend who whispers in your ear, with your back against his chest, the bubble bath both healing and relaxing, "keep it in." the transition of his cute giggles to the low rumble of his voice near your ears has you blinking confused, yet you still find yourself nodding, completely under his trance. soobin who's giddy, having your body completely engulfed by him, no space between the two of you with his hand wrapped around your waist, snuggling close to you, a grin so wide as you both quickly fall into sleep, some of his seed leaking down your leg, your swollen abused cunt unable to fully follow through your boyfriend's command.

★ choi beomgyu |

beomgyu was never known as being an overly... patient fellow which would explain a lot. like the time he burst into a woman's bathroom because he just could not wait a few more minutes until the janitor could unlock the jammed door for the mens', or when he downed a spiked drink a second before he could be told that he was supposed pour it down the sink, or...now, when he has you pinned on the floor, clearly not in the mood to stop and take it to bed. "beomgyu—" you gasp when he starts nibbling on your earlobe, grounding his erection in between your legs. you start laughing nervously when he slowly trails his kisses down to your exposed collarbones, "let's get up, beomgyu, baby stop playing around."

he whines, starting to teasingly suck, slight nip on your skin. and you just...can't wrap your head around the position you're in—a few seconds ago, you were watching a cute movie with your beloved, adorable boyfriend and suddenly the teasing jokes started, then the addition of pillow fights on each other had you both toppling to the floor, giggling like little children. and now you had your boyfriend on top of you, not willing to negotiate and do the deed on the couch at the least— something a little more comfortable than a hardwood floor with no carpet furnishing. instead he busies himself, already rutting his hips against the aching need between your thighs, soft groans magnified to your ears, his breathing getting heavier and faster by the minute.

"beomgyu, we're on the floor." you repeat for the hundredth time— in between the startled gasps every time he got just a tinge bit rougher—thinking it'd get to his head this time. "who cares?" he whines, his sly hands already finding their way under your shirt, ministrating, fondling like the horny dog he was. "you're so fucking hot noona, can't control myself."

patience was never beomgyu's thing. having your shirt haphazardly pulled over your tits because he was just too goddamn impatient to undress you properly, your panties bunched to the side in frantic urgency as he finally prods his leaking tip at your entrance, sliding it in and out to prep, light headed as he bites down on his bottom lip, before he decides he just can't wait any longer, voicing his sorries over and over again as he fully takes you in unexpectedly, stretching out your tight pussy, earning him a delicious, drawled, loud moan of his name. and oh, does he fucking lose it. "louder, say it louder."

beomgyu who pounds you senseless, hand reaching up to grope your breasts every time he gets close, strained groans when he spills inside you again, hips still unrelenting, fucking his seed into you, his sweaty shuddering body looming over you when he stops for a second to catch his breath, you similarly worn out, head hazy, barely able to use your strained voice as you had lost it by the...you could barely keep count. "such a fucking cumslut, huh? taking everything so well noona," he babbles with each sudden thrust to your pliant body, you unable to arch your back from utter exhaustion, "love you, love you so much baby."

bonus. beomgyu's favorite locations? many, but the floor always takes the cake. the animalistic nature of just pure horniness and sweaty backs on the cold wooden floor—it's beomgyu's thing.

★ kang taehyun |

it starts off with the subtle brush of his hand on the roundness of your ass, a few times and you pretend it's nothing. then came a squeeze, right as you were washing dishes with your mom, the suddenness of the action making you freeze for a second, the polite gentleman facade he put up with your mom as he converses, leaving yet another good impression. it all confuses you— how he's able to play it off like nothing while you were practically breaking out in cold sweat. it couldn't be accidental. nothing is accidental with taehyun.

you weren't nervous about introducing taehyun to your (rather conservative) family—he was unanimously picked as your best partner thus far by even your closest friends, which you trust the judgement of. you believe it too, that he's the nicest, most genuine guy you're lucky having to call yours...but it seemed that with each passing minute, you were questioning your decisions.

taehyun isn't a fan of typical pda: hand holding, kissing, embraces that overstayed its welcome, but oh was he particularly bold with everything else. sitting at your family's home dining table, the one you grew up with, reminiscing the countless mornings of rushed breakfasts as a teenager— even recognizing the initials you carved by the edge of the table, it all rushes back to you and you feel guilty for not visiting as often as you should have. your mom who displays a feast on the table, ranging from delicates to turkey and fried rice—your father sitting right by her, uncles and aunties filling the remaining seats, everyone joyfully eating and conversing amongst themselves before your mother clears her throat to finally quench her curiosity.

occupation, the college he graduated, plans for marriage, kids, all of which he answered with perfectly satisfactory answers earning him a few swoons from the older women, to which he tried to be humble making the women get even more swoonful over the generous flaunt of his pearly whites...all the while you sit there at the edge of your seat metaphorically and physically, more than aware of the hand toying with the hem of your dress, dangerously inching closer and closer to your inner thighs.

you could barely hold up your glass of wine without having your hands shake just so slightly at the dangerous game taehyun was more than willing to play. you try to clear your throat, anything to get him to wake up, and remind him where you were, but he seemed nonchalant, picking at his food, eating at small portions, participating in conversation when prompted.

"why aren't you eating y/n? i cooked you your favorite foods!" your mom pouts, drawing the attention of the entire family, all eyes on you—which was just great. just great as taehyun's hand hid under the tablecloth, finger long stuffed in your cunt, your panties bunched to the side as he had his way with you, insanely slow as he decides to shove a second finger making your eyes widen, quickly reaching for the glass to drown out any noise you might slip up—but taehyun's gaze is focused on you, following the crowd, awaiting your answer to the pending question. "um, uh—yeah, sorry, i-i ate a few hours ago."

lies. when it's time for a movie and conveniently, you get to the living room last as you went out to fetch everyone a soda, realizing that you'd have to sit on the floor. taehyun catches you looking for a place to sit, pulling on your dress to catch your attention. when you turn around raising an eyebrow, he pats his lap, motioning to you to come sit, but you shake your head.

you can't, and frankly you don't trust taehyun to not...do something. but he tuts at you, patting his thighs again, this time, mouthing it to you, "sit."

"aww, you guys are so adorable, y/nie go, go, sit." you snap your head to see your mother, who's been invested with your relationship the entire dinner night. "no, mom, i don't want to make him uncomfortable i-"

"what kind of man would be uncomfortable with his girlfriend sitting on his lap?" your uncle speaks up and now all of a sudden, everyone's pitching in the conversation to the point you might just be driven to insanity with all the back and forth. when everyone settles down and the lights are shut off, you feel taehyun's chin resting on your shoulder, a cute gesture until you hear him whisper, "try to stay quiet baby."

the real intentions of kang taehyun were always less than pure.

bonus. spilling juice on your white dress with purpose, unknownst to everyone else who're quick to take out napkins and dab it on the stain, panicked over the ruined white—taehyun taking it as an opportunity to come off as caring as possible to your family, heightening his approval ratings, excusing you both to the bathroom so he can try and clean it off. it was a win win, getting your parents approval, and pounding you in the same bathroom you got potty trained.

a/n. my obsession with soobin + pregnancy talk is detrimental to my mental being holy shit 😂 wanted to try out some footing with different settings, a little bit of a headcanon practice and dom!txt as i have practically almost nothing of the sort in my masterlist that isn't totally fucked up. thoughts and overall feedback are extremely helpful and appreciated, it motivates me greatly. to all those who wanted sub soobin, i promise i'll serve a full fic soon ❤

[lunarw0rks]

I politely crave moreee awkward placed injures with reader and task force 141. Also why is it so hard to spell awkward like I spend 10 minutes trying to spell it :D

No Filter | Part Two

A/N: I wrote this in an hour, I apologize if it's lackluster. I was picturing the sparring scene from Miss Congeniality while writing this - if you know what I'm talking about I love u. Not proofread.

Summary: From a simple training session to a brawl.

Warning(s): platonic!141, mild language, crackfic, canon-typical "violence", very mild injury/blood, fem!reader, no use of y/n

Word Count: 1.3k

꒦꒷ MAIN MASTERLIST ꒷꒦ 141 MASTERLIST PART ONE | AO3 VER. // have a request? // ˗ˏˋ ASK BOX ˎˊ˗

What you were trying to do was train. The right way.

But did that ever go as planned in this God-forsaken place?

In this God-forsaken task force? Not ever.

It was a simple sparring session, a rare one where everyone was participating. Each member picked a buddy, yours being Gaz—one of the more tolerable, humble men you worked with. Though, he had his sore moments every now and then.

Gaz raised his fists, the both of you dancing around in a circle as you braced for impact. “C’mon, hit me!” He exclaimed, curling his lips into a smug smirk. You squinted at him, returning the playful glare as you debated on your next move.

“What? Get shot in the bits but you can’t punch me?” He chuckled, reminding you of the bullet welt still healing—an awkward reminder of the enemy’s odd aim.

At the mention of it, you swung at him, rendering him on his ass. Kyle groaned and held his throbbing forehead, a tender mark where your gloved fist knocked the cockiness right out of him. “Bloody Christ, I said hit me not give me a brain injury!”

You stifle your belly laugh as best as you could, feeling a sting where you were still healing. Instead, you outstretched a hand, pulling the spiteful Sergeant to his feet. And here you were thinking Garrick would be a less irritating sparring partner. Surely, less obnoxious than Soap, and miles less intimidating than Ghost.

You heard a thud behind the two of you, causing you to turn on your heels and inspect the hilarious scene in front of you. Soap was on his ass, holding a small cut on his brow—one that would leave him with a nasty bruise for weeks. The skull-faced Lieutenant stood over him, arms crossed over his chest as he watched him writhe.

“You got distracted, Johnny. Ended up on your arse.” he taunted, taking a few steps back as Soap regained his footing.

With Ghost’s strength, it could’ve been any limp thrust into Soap’s temple. Your guess? Probably an elbow or knee. Soap pointed a finger at Kyle’s reddened mark where you sucker punched him, as if sitting him in the same boat of embarrassment.

“Look at him! Knocked down by her; a nasty mark that is.” His Scottish accent grew stronger the more heated he got, though Ghost remained untouched by both the activity and the humor.

Soap approached, giving your touchy chest a knock with his fist, “I’m proud of you, lass, sticking up for yourself, especially with this one.” He pointed to Gaz’s disgruntled scowl, an often recurring expression on his youthful face. Though, you were more focused on Johnny’s patronizing—he hadn’t let you live the boob incident down.

That vigor resurfaced, making you sweep Soap’s feet out from under him with just a kick. “I told you not to bring that up, you bastard!” You lunged for him, but he had rolled out of your path, finding his footing again. It was game on now—to hell with proper, tactical training.

Soap gripped your shoulders, sending you both to the foam mat with a grunt. The struggle was entertaining for the rest of them, to say the least. Even Simon; the man nonchalantly stanced to the side, pretending he’s not associated with the clown show playing in front of him.

You ended up on top of him, knees on each side of his head. It took every bit of your might, your training to keep his arms from swatting you in the face. It was like two siblings wrestling over their turn with the remote.

“They’re just—” Johnny grunts, resisting the neck pin, “—too damn distracting!” Oh, he was in for it now. That idiotic smolder on his face, like you weren’t seconds from adding to the nasty bruise on his brow bone.

“My bets on her. She’s got a lot of rage.” Gaz whispered to Simon, holding a cold compress to the throbbing mark on his head.

Ghost turns his attention to Gaz’s laughable appearance, then back to the immature brawl. “Johnny’s like a hungry hound, he won’t go easy. Just like I taught him.”

Simon was right. You got too caught up in your need for vindication, disembarking you into the submissive position, a smirking Soap above you.

Your feet pressed against his toned stomach, your only lifeline because your arms were pinned above your head. “Next time we do a honeypot operation, you’re wearing the thong, MacTavish!” A harsh kick delivered by you, right on his kneecap sent him keeling to the side of you, allowing for your brisk getaway.

You slithered around Gaz, using his frame as a distraction so you could gather yourself. Cheating? Perhaps; but Soap started this, not you. Your eyes peeked around him, now circling around the middleman until an inevitable mistake was made.

“Bet you’d love to see that.” Soap answers your remark from seconds ago, sweat pooling on his bruised brow. Kyle eventually got fed up being used as a wall, yanking your arm and thrusting you towards your mow-hawked opponent.

It wasn’t the quick move he thought it was, however. His foot snagged on yours, sending him tumbling to the ground. And you? You slipped on the ice pack that came flying from Garrick’s grip as he fell. It was like a trio of klutzes all in one room. Surely, no one would be able to picture you three as serious members of the Task Force after all was said and done—but you needed revenge, craved it.

Kyle let out a groan of contempt, barrel rolling out of the way as you and Johnny scuffled again, stumbling along the training room as you attempted head-locks on each other.

Simon retreated into the corner of the room, observing his moronic co-workers as he played with the blade of his knife. Sooner or later, the Captain was either going to find out about this incident second-hand, or walk into this unprofessional brawl. Either way; the skull man was not going to be involved. His fortuitous knee to Soap’s temple was enough to fuel his ego for the day.

You received a few elbows to the rips, some knocks on the side of the head, all while petty insults were thrown at the Scot. It was ridiculous, but in the moment—you were on top of the world, beating Johnny’s arrogance.

You latched onto Johnny’s back, attempting to finally give him a well-deserved choke hold. What did you get instead? A forearm to the nose, a small smear of blood on your wrist when you instinctively raised a hand to your throbbing nose.

Soap was chuckling… until he witnessed you compose yourself within a matter of seconds. The saying he heard once; hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. He believed it to be true the moment he saw you charge him, a disabling kick to his balls. Not strong enough to leave him impotent—enough to make him see stars.

You got ahead of yourself too, delivering the kick too soon after a blow to the face. You lost your balance, finding yourself crumpled on the floor beside MacTavish. Unless it was literal life or death, neither of you were continuing this tussle.

“What the hell is going on in here?”

Everyone’s heads perked up at the sound of the Captain’s irritation. Imagining the scene from his perspective made sense; Kyle pouting with an ice pack on his head, you holding a bloodied nose while stunned, Soap clutching his wounded manhood, and Simon in the corner sharpening a blade.

It was in his nature to keep professional, though he had to fight the urge to cackle.

“You were supposed to be training with each other, not partaking in catfights.” He cleared his throat. “Will someone explain to me why everyone but Simon is injured?” John crept closer, hands behind his back as he hovered over the two of you, inspecting the evidence on your faces.

Soap raised his head, mouth open to speak, but the Captain cut him off. “Not you.”

You gritted your teeth, still in the midst of catching your breath, “he talked about the boobs again.” It was a humiliated mumble, like a child caught in a lie. As if there weren't enough staff meetings caused by this unit specifically…

“My office. Now, all three of you.”

[thefallennightmare]

Miracle-epilogue

*gif created by me. feel free to use, simply give credit*

Pairings: Noah Sebastian x Reader

Warnings/Tropes: forced proximity, slight enemies to lovers, slow burn, smut, angst, fluff, mentions of death, and swearing.

Summary: Reader is the merch girl for Bad Omens. It wasn't what she wanted to do with her life but when her mother got sick with Alzheimer's, reader took a job where she could to help with the costs. She thought it would be a one-time gig but the longer she was on the road with them, the harder she fell for Noah Sebastian; even if he wanted nothing to do with her. She needed a miracle to save her mom and her future.

Author Note: I couldn't stay away from these characters or this universe. I hope you all enjoy! Also, thanks @thescarlettvvitch for the small idea 😉

Tags: @ada-clarence @nonamessblog @thescarlettvvitch @malice-ov-mercy @crimson-calligraphyx @theoneandonlykymberlee @yumikitten @blackveilomens @cherrymedicine13 @thebadchic @notmaddihealy @jay02bo @beaker1636 @jakekiszkasguitarpick @punk-pr1ncessxoxo @er3nslovergirl @iamdesolate @lma1986 @jessitpwk @themodern-daywednesday @writethrough @bngurngheart @dreams-that-are-anwsered @loeytuan98 @omens-in-reverse @loverofagoodbeard @jay02bo @niicoleleigh @tearfallpixie @cupidsdreams

MOOD BOARD created by @madomens

The crowd cheered wildly behind me as I scurried in front of the barricade; the camera hanging loosely around my neck. Bryan and I gave each other a high five as we passed each other for me to come to a stop center stage, eyes gazing up at the man in front of me. His eyes shined as he spoke into the microphone, thanking everyone for coming out to another sold out show; the last show of the tour. The last night was always electric, exciting, and from the energy radiating from the crowd behind me, they felt the same.

“We only have a few songs left tonight,” Noah began only to be cut off by a loud ruckus of cheers. “But we can’t thank you all enough for your continue support and love for the last couple years ever since we blew up. We were this small town band from Virgina that moved to Los Angeles with a dream; one that came true.”

Noah’s eyes darted down to me and winked, a warm hue covering my cheeks. “And for some of us, we had a few extra dreams come true.”

With a bashful gaze, I mouthed three simple words up to him.

“I love you.”

The corners of his lips lifted as his eyes now sparkled, blowing me a soft kiss then started into Enough, Enough Now. This tour was all about their older songs, with of course their hits from their current album, but Bad Omens wanted to reinvent their older songs.

I let out a deep breath, stretching out the pain in my back and abdomen before busying myself switching between pictures and videos of all the guys for the next few songs. As I was walking down the steps from Folio’s drum stage, I nearly missed the last step and almost tumbled to the floor until familiar arms wrapped around me.

“Angel,” Noah hissed. “What did I say about walking around on the stage in the dark?”

Thankfully, it was a quick break in between the last two songs as the video intro started for the next one so our conversation was hushed.

“I’m fine,” I reassured him while standing on two feet. “I missed the last step, that’s all.”

His eyes narrowed under the stage lights while I brushed away the hair from his face. He decided on letting his hair grow again and it was almost a comb over across his forehead. He looked ethereal cast in the red stage lights as Jolly started strumming the first few notes of Concrete Jungle.

But I noticed he didn’t move, only continued to stare at me with those intense dark eyes and hands on his hips.

“Noah,” I sighed. “I have to work still.”

“I know, angel. All I’m asking is that you’re careful, alright? I don’t want anything to risk-,” His hands reached for mine and gave them a gentle squeeze.

“I will,” I promised while cupping his cheek. “I’ll be more careful.”

Noah gave me a small smile before laying a gentle kiss on my forehead, something the crowd noticed and cheered loudly. Pushing him back to the center of the stage, I giggled while walking to the side of the stage where I noticed Matt watching with a smirk.

“A bit of a difference from last tour, huh?” He asked while crossing his arms over his chest.

I hummed in agreement and stood next to him, opting to watch the rest of the show instead of take pictures, and thought back to how last tour went. It was about a month after Noah and I got married and I was still apprehensive about letting the fans know about us. We got married pretty soon after our engagement, less than a year, but that was only because we didn’t want to waste another second once Bad Omens finished writing their current record. Noah offered we could get married while they were writing but I declined, telling him he should only focus on one thing. The ceremony was quiet, in a hushed location in Washington, where afterwards Noah and I stayed for a month in the same cabin that he proposed in. We kept the marriage a secret for the first year since Bad Omens were about to go on tour overseas, one I of course followed with. Even though we were married, I continued to work for them as their social media ambassador; until the last few months.

Reading some of the darker side of the comments on posts or online didn’t sit well with me mentally, along with some personal things I was dealing with, so after a deep conversation with Noah, we decided it would be best if I continued taking pictures and videos alongside Bryan but they would have someone else posts and take care of the social media accounts. The entire tour overseas, Noah and I kept our relationship quiet and while he was on stage, we kept it professional, much to his dismay. But he always understood why we needed to keep it that way. We rarely went out in public just the two of us to avoid any untrue rumors and when we went out as a group with everyone, we did our best not to make it seem like we were together.

It was fucking brutal, and we hated every second of it. It was getting in the middle of our marriage and made the first year exhausting and heartbreaking when it should have been filled with love and joy. There was a night where we had an intense argument that Noah went to spend the night at his old place with Jolly and the rest of the guys while I stayed back at the home we were creating for ourselves. I didn’t sleep even for a few minutes that night and neither did Noah because I felt him crawling back into our bed hours later, leaving a soft kiss to my head.

“I’m sorry, angel,” he murmured while brushing away the dried tears from my face.

Now, we were both at a better place, mentally, that I felt comfortable with our marriage being out in the open. If people found out, good for them. It wasn’t because I was ashamed or didn’t want to be seen with Noah. In fact, it was the opposite. I loved Noah with my entire fucking soul. He was the miracle I’d been searching for.

So before this tour began, about four weeks ago on our first anniversary, Noah posted a 24 hour story on his Instagram, with my permission of course.

It was the picture. The one from that first party all those years ago, back during Noah’s long hair era. There were three simply words typed across the picture, ones that started a frenzy.

Happy anniversary, wife.

In return, I posted a picture of Noah and I, one that Bryan took on that one tour so long ago. It was back when we were sort of dating and the night of the storage closet. It was that moment after the show when I was sitting on Noah’s lap, playing with his necklace as he kissed my lips. Unbeknownst to us, Bryan took our picture.

My caption mirrored Noah’s: Happy anniversary, husband.

Matt nudged my arm, bringing me back to the present, and I hummed in response to his words.

“What did you say?”

He snickered while nodding towards Noah, who was giving a bow to the crowd as they cheered for one more song.

“I’m glad you came with. I know last tour was kind of rough for you two.”

I nodded. “Yeah but we worked past those issues. We’re in a good place, finally.”

“Good,” Matt smiled. “Because I don’t know if I could handle crabby Noah for another tour.”

Just as he finished speaking, Noah ran up to me and wrapped me in his arms, breathing in my scent. I giggled while leaving kisses along his shoulder, the salty taste of his sweat bittersweet on my tongue.

“Are you okay?” He asked while pulling away slightly so he could look down at me.

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, I’m fine.”

The rest of the guys bounded up behind Noah as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder to pull me into his chest.

“Usual last night tradition?” Noah asked.

My heart rate picked up, and I wrapped myself tighter around him, the nerves beginning to lock me into place. This was something we talked about for awhile now and I knew it was coming, but I was still so nervous to see how everyone would react.

They had the tradition on the last night of the tour to sit in the back of the bus and play Mario Cart until the wee hours of the morning. But this time, Noah and I had a little something extra planned.

Jolly nodded. “Of course.”

“That is if Y/N remembered to bring the game,” Folio gave me shit as we began walking back to the green room.

“Oh my gods,” I groaned. “Yes, I forgot it on the last tour but did you forget how many stores I went to find it? Spent my entire afternoon running around so you idiots could play it.”

Nick chuckled. “Are you going to join us this time?”

Noah squeezed my shoulder, but we both kept a neutral face.

“Nope. It’s your guy’s thing. I already planned on laying in my bunk and reading a book,” I said as we walked into the green room.

“You can, angel,” Noah said as he reluctantly let me go so I could pack up my things.

I smirked at his rouse and threw over one of his sweaters, it almost drowning me in it, and walked up to him leaving a peck on his lips.

“Please tell me you remembered the bag?” I mumbled against his lips.

His hands squeezed my hips. “It’s in your bunk, ready to go.”

I brushed away the sweat matted hair from his forehead so I could look directly into his eyes. I wanted to make sure the both of us were one hundred perfect on board with this decision. Noah was the one that brought up the idea last night and while I was still apprehensive, I agreed. They deserved to know; soon they would have found out if we didn’t say anything.

“You’re sure? What if we have another-.”

Noah wrapped a hand against the side of my neck and lifted my chin with his thumb. “We waited long enough, angel. We’ll be okay, we were before. This time, if it happens, we’ll have the support of everyone.”

Tears burned in my eyes as memories of the past came flooding back, something Noah noticed, because he pulled me into his chest and rubbed soothing circles against my back. His lips brushed along my hairline as his sweet words eased the pain that sat low in my heart. It never went away; it continued to fester there, stabbing the knife deeper and deeper. Especially now.

“It won’t, angel,” Noah reassured me, his own sniffles being muffled by my hair. “This time will be different. It already is.”

I smiled into his shirt when I realized he was right. This time is different, and there was already proof of it.

“Okay so before we start,” Noah spoke as we all lounged in the back area of the bus, it driving us the twelve hour drive back to Los Angeles.

“She forgot the game!” Folio bellowed while sitting up taller on the couch.

I stuck my tongue out at him. “Fuck off, Folio.”

Noah hushed my words with a pat to my knee before he set a small gift bag on the floor in front of both Nick’s and Jolly, who stared at it with a raised brow.

“What is this?” He asked.

“That’s the whole point of a gift. You’re supposed to open it to see,” Noah urged with a nod.

Noah’s knee bounced with anticipation and I rested a hand against his thigh to ease him and he placed his hand over mine to link them together. We shared a loving gaze, one he ended with a wink and smirk as we watched Jolly pull out the first gift.

“Naruto socks?” He asked with a raised brow, confusion etched in his voice.

“Dude, these aren’t even in your size,” Folio snatched them and eyed them. “They look like they could fit a kid.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep my smile away.

Noah rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, about that.”

Nick then pulled out a Bad Omens beanie, bright white letters on the back that only Noah and I could read.

“It’s a new design,” Noah said when they all eyed it with curious eyes. “Its an infant size.”

The three of them shared a quick look before Nick turned over the beanie and his body went stiff when he read the writing on the back.

Sebastian.

With the infant beanie and infant size socks, the wheels were turning for them. But to give them that little of extra help, I held out my phone towards them; the black and white sonogram catching their attention immediately.

“No fucking way,” Nick said.

“You’re not fucking with us, are you?” Jolly asked with a small smile.

“My name is literally right there,” I chukled while showing them the part of the sonogram where it read Y/N Sebastian.

Folio smacked his hands together while letting out a loud yelp of celebration as he all but tackled me deeper onto the couch in a vice like hug. With a fit of giggles, I wrapped my own arms around him.

“Nick! She’s fucking fragile, man,” Noah cursed while pushing him off of me to pull me into his lap, large arms wrapping around me now protectively.

I kissed his forehead. “I’m not made of glass, Noah.”

His face grew stone serious. “Yes, you are.”

My shoulders fell, knowing there was a reason he’d been so protective. Not just tonight but since we found out four months ago. Only this time, we wanted to make sure we made it past this point before telling anyone.

Jolly quickly picked up on the seriousness of our conversation but waited until a round of congratulations and hugs were had before settling back into the couch.

“How far along?” He wondered.

Now sitting curled up against Noah’s warm embrace, I sighed into his chest. “Almost five months.”

Nick’s eyes widened. “How the hell didn’t we notice?”

“She wore baggy clothes. We wanted to make sure-,” Noah’s words trailed off, unable to find the courage to finish.

“Uh,” I began while sitting straight up. “I only have a small bump so it made it easy to hide. But there’s a reason we kept it secret for so long. Before this pregnancy, we suffered through two miscarriages.”

The guys sucked in a breath while Noah stiffened next to me. Even though he was strong during those two dark times in our marriage, I knew he was doing it for me. Deep down, he suffered through those losses on his own and was still dealing with it.

“Shit,” Jolly ran a hand through his hair.

“Please don’t say the typical I’m sorry bullshit. We don’t want to hear that,” I smiled weakly. “It was hard for us but we got through it. We just want to focus on now and what the future holds for this baby. And us.”

Noah rested a hand over my bump, eyes glittering as he stared lovingly at me.

“Oh,” he said while reluctantly looking away from me over towards teh guys. “Don’t go saying shit. If Jesse doesn't find out from me, he’d be so hurt.”

“Rightfully so,” I nodded with a smirk.

That night, the game was forgotten as we all talked about the future of not only Bad Omens but also the future of its newest little member.

A soft knock sounded on the door frame behind me and I looked over my shoulder, giving a small smile to Noah. He was shirtless as he leaned up against the doorframe, eyes tired but bright with so much love and adoration. His usual Levi cut a mess on top of his head. He knew how much I loved that haircut so instead of cutting it when it got too long; he was sporting that look again.

“Why are you awake? You should be sleeping.”

Fuck, his tired voice was so sexy but at almost nine months pregnant, that was the last thing I wanted to think about. I loved my husband and our sex life was amazing but I was miserable the last month, wanting the pains in my back and hips to stop. I reminded him once or twice that he could watch that sex tape we made a few years ago.

“I can’t sleep,” I shrugged from my spot on the floor of the almost ready nursery.

An array of pieces and an instruction manual lay at my feet, something Noah eyed with a brow. “Angel, I told you I’d put the crib together in the morning. You shouldn’t be doing it by yourself.”

He sat on the floor in front of me and reached for my hands, taking away the screwdrivers and set them into the pile of tools.

“I know. I thought I could get a head start on it though,” I began cracking my knuckles.

Noah sighed as he wrapped one large hand over both of my small ones. “I hate when you do that.”

“Sorry,” I looked away from him. “Nervous habit.”

“Are you nervous for Friday?”

I nodded while finally meeting his gaze. “There’s all these risks for C-sections. What if something happens and-.”

Noah hushed my worries with a firm kiss to my lips, his tongue brushing over my bottom lips before exploring every inch of my mouth. I moaned into the kiss and rested my hands against his bare chest, nails scraping along the tattooed skin.

“We’ve already gone over all the risk factors,” Noah sighed while pulling away, resting his forehead against mine. “But it’s the only way, angel.”

With his hand over my large bump, I nodded. “I know.”

We sat like this for a long moment, enjoying the silence and solace of the nursery. It was a simple design, nothing too over the top. But we made it special with pictures of everyone that mattered to us; our family. The center picture was the one of Noah and I from that party; thatpicture.

“Noah?”

My voice broke the silence, and he gave me a small smile. “What is it?”

I blew out a shaky breath. “What if I’m not a good mom? What if I get Alzheimers like my mom did and treat our baby the way she treated me?”

These worries weighed heavy on my mind from the second we found out I was pregnant; this time. The worry if I would be a good enough mother and treat them with love and honesty; not the way my mother did for me.

All these years later after her death and I still couldn’t find it in my heart to forgive her. I might have moved on, but the pain was still buried deep, sometimes clawing its way out. There was also the fear of if I’d get Alzheimers as I got older. Noah always had the same answer; we’ll figure it out if that time comes. Let just focus on the now.

As the tears fell, Noah was quick on my side to pull me into him, us resting against the wall of the nursery.

“You’re going to be a great mom, angel. I already know that because you take care of everyone before yourself. It won’t be hard but I’m going to be with you by your side through it all. Even if you get Alzheimers, I’ll record myself telling you we’re married so you don’t forget me.”

I couldn’t stop the small giggle that fell from my lips and pressed a small kiss to his chest before gazing up at him. “It’s the hormones.”

Bullshit, his eyes shined.

“Come on,” he kissed the side of my head. “This crib isn’t going to put itself together.”

“Angel, sit down. Let me get your water for you,” Noah hissed when he saw me trying to stand from the couch.

“But-,” I spoke.

His eyes pinned me in place as he held my bottle of water in one arm and the small infant in the other. Noah’s hair was a mess and his black shirt had a few spots of spit up but none of that bothered him. Even through exhaustion, he still wore the proudest smile on his face. We returned home from the hospital a few days ago and spent that time just the three of us, finding our ways as a family.

This entire pregnancy was constant fear and worry if we’d lose our baby like we did previously. I still didn’t believe he was real until I held him; Noah’s eyes staring back up at me as our baby's name fell from my lips.

Kenji Noah Sebastian.

“Thank you,” I thanked him with a kiss as Noah handed me my water bottle.

“I love you,” he muttered against them.

“I love you too.”

The noise coming from the kitchen made us raise our brows in confusion.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to let Folio filet a fish in our kitchen?” I asked.

Noah shrugged as he gazed down at our son, a wide smile on his face as he rocked him. “He wants to cook us dinner. Let him.”

Kenji began fussing in Noah’s arms but before I could offer to feed him, Noah shot me another look. “You were up all night with him, angel.”

“Yeah but you’ve been dealing with him all day. Kenji hasn’t stopped fussing.”

Noah brushed a finger along the side of Kenji’s face, his black wedding band catching the light from above. “They have cut you through six layers of skin and had your insides moved around to give birth to our baby. You need to rest, angel.”

With a pouted lip, I held out my arms. “Can I atleast hold him while you make a bottle?”

Once Kenji was in my arms, Noah bent low to leave another kiss on my lips before retreated into the kitchen where he heard Folio and Jesse arguing about something. Tonight, we had a full house of our family who came to visit us and meet Kenji.

Jolly sat down on the couch next to me, finger immediately being grasped my Kenji’s small hand.

“Y/N, your genes didn’t even try. That’s a printed copy of Noah. You just gave birth to Noah,” Jolly smirked while making funny faces down to Kenji.

“Gee thanks, it’s not like I grew him,” I grumbled playfully.

Noah returned and sat on the other side of me, taking a now sleeping Kenji to lay him against his chest, him brushing a gentle kiss across the baby’s forehead. I smiled wide and felt my heart spread warmth all throughout my body at the sight.

Never did I think that when I first started working for Bad Omens that I would be married to the vocalist and have a child with him. Our relationship might not have been perfect in the beginning but through all the hardships of the two miscarriages and all the fights that stemmed from it, we never gave up.

As I brushed through the thick dark locks of Kenji’s hair, a mirror image to Noah, I heard a quiet sniffle next to me and realized Noah was holding back tears. They pooled at the corner of his eyes but refused to let them slip. Always the stoic one but I could see that he was running through so many emotions.

“What are you thinking about?” I questioned.

His bottom lip trembled. “Just everything. How far we’ve come. The Airbnb, the pop up event you put together, our fight where I said hurtful things to you.”

I cupped his cheek. “Please stop beating yourself up about it, Noah. All has been forgiven.”

“But I can't help but wonder what would have happened if you didn’t forgive me. Would we be sitting here together? With our son on my chest?”

Noah placed another tender kiss to Kenji’s head, who stirred in his sleep.

With his free hand, I linked our fingers together my thumb tracing over the faded angel wings tattoo.

“I think we would have found our way back to each other,” I said matter-of-factly.

That made him smile just the tiniest bit but I could tell the darkness that still held tight to him. As he blew out a breath, a few tears fell.

“The fire, I think, haunts me to this day. I know you’ve overcome your nightmares from it but I can't even let a candle burn without thinking of seeing you hang from the house.”

“I didn’t know that,” I breathed, shocked.

While I overcame the trauma from the fire, I didn’t realize Noah was still dealing with it.

“Fuck,” he sighed while running a hand over his face to brush away the tears. “I didn’t mean to get so emotional.”

I brushed away another stray tear with my finger, the wedding band catching the light from above. “It’s the lack of sleep.”

Noah agreed with a chuckle and stared down at Kenji again, who was making soft coos in his sleep. Suddenly a large smile broke out across Noah’s face, instantly brightening up the room.

“All I ever wanted was a family of my own. I made one with my friends, but you, angel,” Noah squeezed my hand. “You gave me something I don’t even have words for.”

“Hey, you helped,” I rested my head against his shoulder.

Noah laid his chin on top of my head, chest shaking with his deep breath, which did nothing to bother the sleeping baby. “But you did everything, you gave my life new meaning. Thank you. You gave me that fucking miracle, angel.”

[weom000]

Sevikas fight style analyzes by a boxer

Sevikas style is centered around defense, and hindering her opponent. After being kneed in the face, when Vi starts to hit her again she completely blocks herself, she gives herself no opening, and does not search for one, she goes completely defensive before slipping to the side, causing Vi to miss, and while that usually wouldn't be something so detrimental as it is here but because Vi anticipated her to continue to block, she puts too much momentum forward and loses her footing for less than a second and during that gap Sevika takes down her defense, leaving her mechanical arm in the way of Vi, and wraps it around the punch she just threw, and grabbing her other one as Vi tries to free herself. This completely incapacitates Vi, her arms are totally locked and locked straight, allowing Sevika to take control of the situation as well as say something to her without interruption, she is able to headbut her twice and then she returns to defense. She Pushes her back, shoving Vi away from her, letting Sevika gain her footing again and keeping Vi unbalanced all in one.

Because of this, Sevikas opponent is now hindered and she has the upper hand, which is when she changed her tactic and throws a shot to the body to keep Vi’s hands down, so she can then give what can be translated to a hook, taking advantage of the time she has before Vi moves again. But, something sevika doesn’t take into account so well at this moment is Vi’s speed, which is a key component as to why her style even works without getting her pummeled as it did in her first fight that we see. Sevika doesn't account that, so when Vi is able to recover so fast (see post about her fight style i wrote) and moves out of the way of the hook instead of just ducking down, which is what most would do in that situation, she is able to get to Sevikas entirely unprotected side where her arm hangs loose instead of up in defense.

Because of this, you get the next snippet which is where Vi gains the upper hand again; she throws a body shot underneath Sevika, and because her arms were down it lands hard, which throws her off. During this sequence, Vi uses one of my personal favorite moves which is rolling to the outside under the punch sevika threw, then grabbing sevikas arm and throwing an uppercut underneath it. It stops her from returning to defense, keeping her face totally unguarded, and then she reaches under to hit her, and her form stays solid and intake, with her shoulder rolling with the punch giving her whole body weight behind it just as you should. 

This doesn't last long however; with Sevikas arm injecting her with shimmer again. BUT, i think that even without the shimmer the fight wouldn't have gone much different, because Vi made the mistake of giving Sevika even a second of a break, which meant that given she got up again she would’ve returned to being entirely defensive, forcing Vi to get predictable. But she did take the shimmer, so going off of that, she still goes back to being entirely defensive, throwing something at Vi, making her prioritize dodging over keeping her opponent in her eyesight, giving Sevika the chance she needed to get back to her, body slamming her, once again rendering her basically defenseless before she grabs her by the neck, both hindering her opponent unable to strike back and also being able to sling her around in an attack. After the following sequence, where Vi knee’s her in the gut, sevika is thrown off and they are both tired. Sevika gets back up, but Vi is back in her stance first, giving her the upper hand, letting her basically hit sevika around and making her unable to get back into a defensive position. This continues on until Sevika tells her the key information that Jinx now works for Silco. If it weren't for that, Vi would’ve won the fight, but that information threw her off, and made her get sloppy, on top of her exhaustion and injuries. Sevika stabs her, and I consider the fight over at that point. 

Sevikas style is consistent throughout the fight, she has patterns of behavior that are unpredictable because while they are patterns they don't necessarily repeat in a sequence as one would imagine. Instead she searches for an opportunity and then does the expected attack. From inside the fight, you would never see it coming, but from an outside perspective you recognize the gaps in her opponent at the same time she does, giving her the opportunity to knock her opponent down and get in hard, heavy hits.

[according2thelore]

Omg I'm loving all the ES /LS!Winchester dynamic!!!! Would you guys consider compiling and posting the drabbles on A03?

Also, ES!Dean being so turned on by with LS!Sam is so hot and hilarious 🤣🤣🤣

But it's got me thinking, what if ES!Sam comes to Dean for some tips on Dean's preferences/favourite positions?

ES!Sam would cringe/blush so hard while asking but the poor collage boy couldn't top ES!Dean's years of experience hoeing around all 50 states 🤣🤣😭

Also, how would ES!Sam react to finding out about Benny? (Whether as a "brother" or if there was a romantic past)

hi!

i've made a lil masterlist over here, but i've actually never considered putting them on ao3! i'd feel a lil bad if i clogged up the wincest tag whenever i update it, since i do it weekly/biweekly. would that be something y'all are interested in? i can't tell if i'm overthinking it?

i put a poll underneath the cut--let me know what y'all think!

as for your ideas--AAH!!!!!!! also written below the cut!

ES!Sam is practically vibrating as he stalks over to LS!Dean in the garage, but loses all nerve as soon as dean actually looks up and sees him standing there. he tries to lean against one of the work stations and misses.

"so. uh. sleeping? with you? how does that work?"

and LS!Dean kinda hits him with the

because uh...what are we about to do? and remind me how i'm supposed to answer in the negative again?

and when ES!Sam sputters through an explanation, getting more and more angry as he keeps going because there is little to NOTHING ES!Sam hates more than feeling stupid or being condescended to, finally spits out,

"what do you like?! sexually?"

LS!Dean is now sweating bc "that does not clarify a single thing, actually."

ES!Sam throws a towel at him, which LS!Dean sportingly lets hit him.

"you! 2006 you! if you were to--uh--have sex. with me? what do you like?"

and LS!Dean is still kind of agog because oh my god??? he himself is already pitching the beginnings of a tent over here and ES!Sam is still blushing and keeps looking in dean's eyes in shifts, looking up at his hairline and then back down to his eyes like he has to take eye contact in doses.

"sexually." sam says again, and if he says it one more time, dean's pretty sure he's going to have to suck his dick right here, right now. he's pretty sure. "i think you...ah, have more experience than me at this point. so. who knows what you'd like better than...you?"

LS!Dean moves his roll-cart of tools in front of him, because this is like every dirty fantasy he's had about sam since he was fifteen. shyly coming up, blushing and hiding under bangs and asking big brother how to have sex, asking big brother how to make it good for him.

when LS!Dean's tongue gets unstuck from the roof of his mouth, he has to clear his throat a few times. almost a hilarious number of times, really. his voice still cracks.

"well. um. sammy. sam." he corrects quickly, hedging a look up at him, "i've gotta tell you. you could probably throw up on his dick and he'd probably come like a teenager."

ES!Sam recoils.

"you want me to throw up on your dick??" he says--really fucking loud--and LS!Dean ducks like someone's taking shots.

"NO! what? what the fuck, kid? no!" LS!Dean looks around, but no one sticks their head in. "it's a metaphor!"

"what is metaphorical about me throwing up on your dick?" ES!Sam looks a little green, like he might do it whether dean wants him to or not.

"i'm saying--" LS!Dean says pointedly, "that i've been so gone for you since you were practically born. you could be the categorically worst lay in the entire world and i'll react like i bagged angelina jolie."

ES!Sam's ears flush pink.

"oh." he says, soft. LS!Dean shifts on his feet, awkward, as sam looks up at him from underneath his bangs, even though the damn kid still towers over him a few inches.

dean sighs.

"he's probably gonna want missionary. he's a sap." he grumbles. "moan his name a few times and do that thing the chick from boston taught you with your tongue. ann or something."

ES!Sam jolts, "how do you know about--"

LS!Dean raises an eyebrow, and sam tapers off into an awkward, understanding nod.

"yeah. drives me crazy." dean confirms. "let him take care of you. he'll have a fucking coronary."

the embarrassed avoidance in ES!Sam's gaze disappears, and a determined glint shines in his eye. for a second, dean thinks he might whip out a pen and paper and start taking notes.

"you have my blessing." LS!Dean says with a show of grandiose magnanimity, and ES!Sam snorts. "i'm like sex yoda right now. kinda scary. can you wear me like a backpack real quick?"

ES!Sam turns on his heel so dean can't see his smile, and dean chalks that one up as a victory.

"hyperbole." ES!Sam calls as he walks away.

"gesundheit!" dean calls after him, and sam turns around, cocky little smile and raised eyebrow and dean feels like he's twenty-six again.

"it wasn't a metaphor. 'throwing up on your dick.' it was hyperbole." he says, but his eye roll is undercut by a grin so wide it splits dean right down the middle.

as for ES!Sam finding about benny...oh lord...

this little buddy is not cool about it. considering the fact that he doesn't even know vampires are still around yet, he is GOBSMACKED by the fact dean was fucking friends with one. purgatory is a whole other can of worms.

he's kind of mad at LS!Sam for a second, because what do you mean we didn't look for him? until LS!Sam turns and looks at him with the deadest look in his eyes and says 'i thought dean was dead' and yeah. okay. he wasn't in his right mind. even the thought makes sam a few seconds away from throwing up, so sam is NOT holding his older self accountable for anything that happened during that time.

but the think that gets him right in the fucking panic alarm is "brother." benny has been more like a brother to me than you have ever been would send ES!Sam to a fucking hospital.

at this point, sam has literally never NOT been dean's 100% specialest little guy, and ES!Dean still gives him amazed little looks even a year after they reunited like he still can't believe his luck. considering S8 sam almost killed himself because he was literally trying to purge his own weakness and--significantly--that includes his "betrayal" of dean, to make himself worthy of his brotherhood again, ES!Sam is passed out on the ground.

he's jealous, of course, but mostly he's gutted. he's so incredibly insecure, and this makes him angry and mean, because--remember--LS!Dean doesn't wear the amulet anymore. and he calls other people brother. who is sam if not dean's little brother? that has always been his first identifier, even to himself, even when he's resented it. he stands a little too close to ES!Dean/LS!Dean for a few weeks, seeking praise like a child.

this was really fun to write, anon, thank you so much for sending it in!!!! <3 kissing you on both cheeks mwah mwah!!!! <3

-lizzy

[ES/LS verse masterlist here]

[yourlastbraincell-kiwi]

A/N: This was a request on my Wattpad called ‘Bound to One Another’ and forgot to put it on Tumblr. I hope you enjoy it!

Also, it switches from Chase and the reader’s pov, please be aware of that, but it starts off with the reader pov!

Pairing: Chase Davenport x Reader

As far as I know, it’s got typos-

——————🧬——————

"Hey, guys!"

I said, walking over to Adam, Bree, Chase and Leo. They all greeted me with smiles and waves, while Chase pulls my to his side by my waist, and kissed my temple.

"Where we're you I've been looking everywhere for you?" Chase asked setting his chin on my head. "Yeah, he was sweated so much, it looked like it rained inside the school." Bree said, motioned to Chases shirt.

"He extremely worried that you missed the first couple of classes, but honestly, that isn't something he should be worrying about. Mr, H's class is anything, but fun." Leo said, as we all, except Chase made that one face.

"His class is in fact fun, what about the time we studied the human body, and how many different systems the body has and-"

"And that is why you don't have many friends." Adam said while Bree and Leo nodded their heads. I shake my head and look up at Chase, "It's alright, I just over slept and the traffic was so bad today. I'm lucky enough to even have made it to school." I said walked with them to our classes.

"See? Right there. I would've taken advantage of that.." Leo said and fist bumped Adam.

I rolled my eyes as they when to class and Chase pulled me aside. "You sure, you're okay?" I nod, grabbing his shoulders. "Yes, I promise you. I'm a-okay. And if anything were to..." His face gives me that really look, but I continue to talk anyway. "...Were to happen you'd know. Okay?"

He sighs and nods his head. "Alright, I gotta go to class now." I smile at him, giving him a farewell kiss, and went to class.

——————🧬——————

It was around 2:40, when I had left school, I said goodbye to my friends except Bree and told Chase, I'd call him when I got home. I usually take the bus, till I get somewhat close to my house. Then I walk the rest of the way, listening to some music, and chatting with Bree, about girl stuff before bringing the subject back to Chase and I.

"Chase was really worried about you, though. I've only ever seen him worried when, he was taking that big History Exam." She said and we both laughed a bit.

"I know, and I promised him that nothing happened, and that I'll always message, whatever the case may be, so I don't worry him."

"Good, but I better get a text too, cause being left with three boys? I love 'em, but boy can they be annoying." She said, waving as she walked home on her own.

I continue walking to my own house particularly slow today though, just to take in the scenery. That was until I saw a rustle of leaves to my right. I brushed it off as it was quite windy today, and I'd expect leaves to make some sort of movement, in windy weather.

I kept on my walk until I heard a bit of a hushed voice, and started to speed walk a bit. Something wasn't sitting right in my gut and I always listen to my gut feeling. The rustling of leaves picked up and I started to run, only to have my arm gripped tight, as making stuff fall out of my pocket, including my phone, yanking the earbuds out of my ears, with such haste.

I hissed out my clenched teeth and tried loosening my kidnappers grip on my arm, but he wouldn't budge, so I kicked the back of his knee causing his to kneel down, probably scraping his knee, and I yanked my arm and tried to run.

He grabbed my ankle, causing me to fall and hit my face on the pavement. I groan feeling my face get hot, near my eyebrow, and lower lip and some blood dripping from my nose. I turned to see him rushed as me I scrambled to my feet and, run as fast I could.

But he was faster.

I screamed her help, but it was no use, the nearest town was little ways ahead from where I was, all because I was wanted to stop and smell the bloody roses! He grabbed my by my waist and put s hand over my mouth, and I kicked and screamed trying something, ANYTHING, that could get me out of his grasp, but he tossed me in the back of his car and locked it.

I banged on the door, begging and pleaded for someone to here me, but no one was there. I eventually stopped, and slouched against the vans doors, and cried silently, eventually crying myself to sleep.

——————🧬——————

I walked back and forth, ready to rip my own hair out of my own head. "Chase, calm down maybe, she was at a friends house." Bree asked as they watched me stress out, in the middle of the hallway at school. "I already ran that probability in my head, over 12 times today and trust me she's not there."

"She said she'd call, but she hasn't and I..." I slowly turn to face my siblings. "I think somethings wrong."

We all looked at each other uneasily, before I walked quickly out the of the school, with nothing but determination on finding (Y/N). "Chase! Wait up!" "Hey! Slow down." "Where are you going?" They said running after me.

"I'm going to find her. You can either come with me, or stay here your choice." I said turning to leave, but Bree grabbed my arm. "What about class, and we all know how much you love Mr.H' class." Leo nodded and pointed at Bree, as if her statement was correct.

"I do, but finding (Y/N) is way more important then some...some...stupid class!" I walked away leaving them wide eyed with Leo's mouth agape. "Who are you? And what have you done with Chase?" He said, as they ran after me.

——————🧬——————

'Ugh...'

'What happened?'

I slowly lift my head, as my eyes fluttered open. I tried to get a look at my surroundings, but it was little blurry, and my head was throbbing. I tried lifting my hand up to feel my temples, but I realized I was bound to the wall. I tried freeing myself, but that definitely wasn't the way of doing so.

"Move, and my father will hurt you."

I looked straight ahead of me, and groaned with audible annoyance.

"Marcus.." He just smirked at me, swirling the tea in his little teacup, with a coffee stirrer. Then Douglas came up from behind Marcus and came over to me.

"Sorry to cut this...lovely conversation short, but (Y/N) is feel a little sleepy."

"What? What are you talking about-?" I asked before Douglas put me to sleep, smiling at me with mischievous eyes.

I groaned as I lifted my head again, which felt heavier then before, vision still blurred, but this time I saw things moving through my blurred eyes. I blinked more trying to clear my vision.

I had come to realize that it was Bree and Adam, we're fighting Douglas and Marcus. Whilst Leo and Chase tried freeing me, and we managed to escape and rushed to their home.

I was sat on the couch in the living room and felt extremely dizzy all of a sudden. I don't know what it could have been. Neither did anyone else, so Mr. Davenport had me stand up to do a body scan.

He stopped, looking at me with worried eyes, putting the scanner down.

"What is it? Did you figure out why I'm so dizzy?"

"I uh...I did. But you might have to stay with us for while."

"Wait, why?" I said looking at him with fury burning inside my chest. "What did they do to me?"

"Douglas has implanted a chip in your neck. A bionic chip." Big D, said looking at me with nothing but pure, guilt.

"You don’t mean…?" I said, but he nodded already know what I was going to say. I looked around at everyone before my eyes landed on Chase.

——————🧬——————

I had went to my parents house, and told them something other then the fact that I now have bionics, and now have to stay at the Davenports. Cause who's to say that they'll believe me if I told them the truth.

They eventually yet reluctantly, "believed" me and let me go. I packed some things to take with me, who knows how long I'll be there? And who knows how long it'll take me to master this newfound ability or abilities.

I stepped into the car and Mr. Davenport drove us back to his house. After I got there Chase had pulled me aside, away from everyone else.

"You have no idea how worried I was, when you didn't come to school the next day. I didn't know what to do-"

"But you found me, and I'm okay, sorta." I said with a small giggle, causing him to smile.

"I know, and now we're connected by our bionics, so we've got nothing to fret about. But I have to ask you something." I nod, feeling a little nervous in my gut area.

"After we're done with school and all. Would you like to marry me.. one day?" I open my eyes wide and look at him if he's crazy. But I quickly realize he isn't joking and I'm quick to answer him with a 'yes.'

The group cheers, high fives and hugs each other. As Chase and I share a loving kiss.

"They grow up so fast." Tasha said, as Mr. Davenport, wrapped his arm around her waist.

"I know, it's like almost yesterday, he was still wearing pull-ups." Adam said whipping his tears. I laugh as we pulled apart, Chase way too happy to even try and argue with Adam.

[anjaelle]

Aged up Dave Lizewski x reader (they're friends) were she's a villain and her dad is a bionics specialist so she has bionic abilities and her and kick-ass fight but they both get seriously injured and the next day everyone meets up at the comic store and you both noticed familiar scratches/cuts so you decide to talk about it privately but instead of getting mad you geek over eachother and end up becoming closer.

@caloetta So I changed it a little bit while keeping the same general idea. I hope you still like it.

Pairing: Post-Grad!Dave Lizewski x Villain!Reader

Warnings: Bruising & Battering, Knife Injury, Language

a/n: I had to dip into the Wiki because I could remember a lot about the character, but not as much as I thought lol

Send me requests and prompts here!

--

He caught on early that you didn't know. Beyond the mask and the sleek bionic bodysuit, he could see the telltale quirk in your eyebrow and the way you flexed your right hand in frustration.

He wanted to believe that calling your name would end the fight. But he knew your father. He knew that you didn't have a choice. It was either kill or be killed with him, and Dave was absolutely not going to kill you.

He also didn't want to die. So he had to whip out the unexpected third option: tire you out, deflect, and run like a little bitch. He felt himself getting pummeled as he blocked each of the extremely painful punches you landed onto his forearms and legs.

"Fight back!" You grunted in anger, throwing another blocked right hook, "God damn it, fight back!"

He noticed your moves getting sloppy as you struggled to understand where the fight was going. You knew he was holding back, and he knew you had something to prove. He saw an opening and took it, kicking you square in the chest and across the room. You hit a pillar and fell to the ground, struggling to get the air back into your lungs.

"Mother...fuck..." you gasped, coughing.

Worried that you were seriously injured, Dave took a step towards you with raised hands, "I'm sorry, I had to--UGH!"

A large knife flew across the room, burying itself deep in the palm of his hand with expert precision, missing every single important tendon but still deep enough to cause a LOT of bleeding.

"Gotcha, you piece of shit." You groaned, rolling over onto your back in exhaustion. Despite the protection the suit gave you, you were still new to this. It was no wonder your father let you practice the tech on someone like him. After all, who was Kick-Ass in the grand scheme of things? Low-level street vigilante? Just some guy?

He took a deep breath and pulled the knife out, letting out a string of slurred vulgarities. The knife had an intricate design on the flat of the blade, with your initials etched in just above the fancily designed handle. It looked like it was a gift from your father.

"Whoa, this is nice."

Your suit hummed as it examined your vitals and whirred to repair any damage. You grunted, "Please, shut the fuck up and go before I murder you."

His stomach flipped when you showed up for work at the shop two days later, holding your ribs and walking with a slight limp. He immediately felt the rush of guilt for kicking you into a concrete pillar, but it wasn't like he had much of a choice. The bandage wrapped around his hand and the stitches underneath were punishment enough. As you leaned up against a shelf of comics to collect yourself, you locked eyes with him and pursed your lips.

"You look like garbage," you said. And then he saw the smile creeping up on your lips when you glanced at his bandaged hand, "Whose little sister beat your ass?"

There was a beat of silence between you as he tried to figure out if you were messing with him or not.

"The same one that beat yours, apparently," he quirked an eyebrow and you briefly matched his expression before dragging your feet to the counter. You leaned in close to him, conspiratorially.

"I want my knife back," you whispered.

He shrugged nonchalantly, peeking over your shoulder to watch the customers mill through the aisles, "I feel like you should've thought about that before throwing it at me."

You plastered a laid back smile on your face as a customer approached the counter with a stack of graphic novels, and you leaned forward on your elbows.

"How did you figure it out?"

Dave absentmindedly scanned each book and placed them in the protective wrapping like it was second nature. You were bold for choosing to have this discussion in front of a civilian, but that didn't seem to surprise him. You loved dabbling in risky behavior in college. Why would anything change 5 years after you left?

"You've got a tell," he admitted, "and...c'mon. I know you like the back of my fucked up hand."

He waved his bandaged hand around for emphasis and you snorted, not feeling the least bit guilty. You were just impressed that your incredibly nerdy, overeager friend was capable of knocking the wind out of you. Ordinarily, you'd leap over the counter to the other side. But, considering the condition of your torso, you chose to take the long way. As you pathetically limped around the back to enter the back room, you could feel his eyes trailing you over the customer's head.

"Let me see." He said, shutting the backroom door behind him. You sighed as you slipped on your sneaker, rolling your eyes.

"It's not that bad."

"If it's not that bad, you'll let me see the damage."

God, he was such a boy scout sometimes. "If you wanted me to take my top off, you could just ask."

You could feel him burning holes into you as you slipped on your other shoe, and you actively avoided eye contact. In truth, he fucked you up bad. It would've been worse without the suit. The only reason you weren't mad was because you knew you got a few good licks in, too. His pretty face had a few bruises and scratches, so you could only imagine what the rest of him looked like.

"Dude..." he huffed, "Stop being a dickhead for five seconds and just show me what the fuck I did to you."

The concern was seeping into his voice and you wanted to ease his guilt. After all, he was just doing his job. It's not like you held a grudge.

You stood and lifted your shirt, exposing the black, purple, and blue bruises along your torso. He clenched his jaw.

When your father saw what Kick-Ass did, he had to be talked down from placing a hit out on him. You had to remind him that it was all a part of the job, and he needed to calm the hell down.

You also didn't want to lose one of the few friends you had.

He crossed the room in a few steps, reaching out to you in frustration.

"Jesus, I'm so sorry." But you scrunched your nose at him like he was insane.

"Why are you sorry? I beat your ass too. It's not like you got away scott free."

He hesitated and then gently ran his fingers along your tender skin to trace the outline of your brightest bruise. You suppressed a shudder, watching as he looked you over with equal parts curiosity, concern, and surprise.

"I had to take an ice bath when I got back to my apartment," he admitted, sheepishly, "I didn't even know you could fight like that."

Without warning, he lifted his shirt to show the numerous rapidly healing cuts and bruises along his very well defined torso. You were almost shocked at how far along his healing was, given the circumstances. All of that strangeness aside, you couldn't stop the exclamation that escaped your throat. It sounded like a mix of a gasp and a cough.

"When the shit did you get so ripped, Lizewski?"

He blushed a deep red. Because of course he did, the humble little bastard.

"You've seen me with my shirt off before."

"I'm sure I'd remember that if I had." You said, eyeing his injuries more closely. You noticed the distinct marks from your bionic suit, and noted that he was a lot stronger than you realized. The more you thought about it, maybe you were lucky that he liked you. You reached out to touch a yellowing bruise on his ribs.

"That's so weird," you said, "Why do your bruises look like that when mine don't."

"I dunno."

He was full of shit. But you wouldn't push.

"I still want my goddamn knife back. It's kind of important to me."

When you finally took a step back to look him over, you found him watching you with an amused look on his face.

"What?" You asked, cracking a grin.

He grinned back.

"You're just gonna have to take it from me."

[sugar-omi]

i saw *this tweet, and i had to write it.... happy valentines dayyyy🫶🫶💞💗🙈🙈

tags : NSFW, gn reader, multiple choice words/dialogue, rockstar!baxter but not mentioned so he could just be a pain in your ass, so ooc, he's a Bit toxic <333, situationship/FWB, bottom reader, (mean) dom baxter, creampie, mention of his neighbor having a crush on you, you're loud. the whole block hears you. he's getting kicked out tmrw--

synopsis : valentines day with rockstar!baxter.. as always, he butters you up and then fucks you like a dog. then showers you with gifts again in the morning <3

when he messages you a crude text about keeping the 14th open, not asking- telling you. you wanna hit him

but as he does sometimes, he ends up surprising you

when you go to his dinky studio apartment, you see he's set it up all nice for the occasion

baxter's in a three piece suit, there's rose petals everywhere (you ignore the heart he drew out of them on the bed...), candles, and he even decorated the table for dinner! he also pulls out the extra nice wine and cooks in front of you, not letting lift a single finger!

"you're my date, all you gotta do, is sit there 'n look pretty for me.."

it's a very nice start to your date, makes you forget that he's not always a gentleman, and that 97% of the time, he's giving you a headache

but somehow, you go from laughing and flirtatious looks, to cuddling on the couch...

to getting your guts rearranged on his queen bed.

he's gentlemanliness doesn't last long, because unless you grab him by the neck and take it off yourself, he ends up ripping your outfit

even if he promises to fix it or buy you two outfits, he's still a bully

mmm probably decides he wants to start the night off with you on top of him, makes you bounce on his lap and do all the work by yourself...

even if you're whining, needing his help to move your hips, he still won't give in! which is really cruel since he'd eat / rim you out within an inch of your life, helping you move is the least he could do!

don't worry though, because after you've reduced yourself to weak, shaky knees and watery eyes, your sex absolutely drooling slick / pre down your thighs / length,

he carries you to the bed and throws your legs over his shoulders, fucking you so shallow, and so deep... you can't even think because his pretty cock is grinding against your g-spot, and he's rubbing your sensitive clit / tip, smearing your arousal all over your sex

he coos at how pretty you look too, tells you how gorgeous you are split on his cock and that you look even better with your valentines day clothes all bunched up, your makeup ruined...

is he picking on you a bit? maybe.

but he does pick one of the rose petals out your hair, isn't he so nice? <3

he's still a bully though. as always.

because by the end of the night, he has you ass up and your face buried in the pillows to muffle your moans, and you're all but sob into the pillow, clutching onto the sheets trying not to hit your head against the wall

"quiet down, before my neighbors complain about the noise again"

as if he isn't the one always rearranging your guts at 3 in the morning, or sending you some obscene video of him alone in his room, showing you just how much he misses you.

pulls you against his chest and starts nibbling on your already bruised neck, purring in your ear, still jackhammering into your tight heat.

starts talking about how that neighbor is probably listening to you get fucked, how he probably hears the bed hitting the wall and your whorish moaning, and that he's probably gonna cum in his pants just hearing you cuss, stutter, and call out his name

don't bother muffling your moans, because he pries your mouth open, shoves his fingers in and fucks you harder

"don't muffle your sounds, baby. let him hear you. let the whole fucking complex hear you."

kisses your tears off your cheek, tells you you're so good, so cute

reaches between your legs, wraps his arm around your waist to stop you from squirming, leans over you until your face is buried in the pillows again and now you have no choice but to take his dick and let him stroke your clit / cock, your sex making a big mess on his cock / in his hand.

the room is filled with sounds of shlick-shlick-shlick from your wet sex and baxter's quick, rough fucking, your loud moans and whines, and baxter's headboard about to knock the wall down.

one more deep thrust is what pushes you both over the edge, your sex squirting your spend over the bed, soaking the silky sheets, and baxter finishes inside, groaning lowly into your ear...

by the end of the night you're sweaty, there's rose petals stuck to your skin, any makeup you have on is smudged and/or rubbed off onto baxter's pillowcase (at least they're black?...)

plus you're covered in bites n hickeys, cum running down your thighs..

at least he runs you a bath and massages your aching muscles, and he even buys you pancakes in the morning! and draws a heart on the stack with syrup <33

(just ignore the plan b and the teddy bear with a note reading "sorry for fucking your brains out ♥️")

also don't be too embarrassed when you do the walk of shame out his house, just... try not to make eye contact with that aforementioned neighbor who is blushing bright red when he sees you, or the scandalized grandma... at least he's driving you home so you don't have to walk back in his clothes, looking like you just got the best dicking of your life

[poursomesunaonme]

hello my sweetest beanie. congrats on your milestone!! i love your event idea so much 💕may i request a sakusa drabble for your event?

he loves to use ‘darling’ as a pet name but also can be so sarcastic about it. which makes me think of him as the king of the meet ugly

i’m thinking “itch” as the lyrics and whatever strikes your fancy with sfw/nsfw. thank you bb 💐

GOD I OVE HIM SO MUCH TY PHON !!

cw: friends to lovers, mention of ushiten hehe, smooch, black jackals cameos

"although i'm oversaturated / know i'm earnest too / and i know i'm eager / but i can't fucking wait for the day that i finally get to kiss you"

“c’mon, c’mon.” tendo’s in the same boat as you, just rooting for the opposite team. you ignore the red-haired man’s pleas, watching intently as kiyoomi swiftly takes position as the ball makes it to the setter. it’s a perfect pass.

the ball flies straight into kiyoomi’s hand, and with a practiced ease, he lands the hit right in between the players in the back line. the entire crowd jumps up to cheer. from the corner of your eye, you see satori slump down as his boyfriend’s team loses, but you can’t console him now, not when your best friend just won one of the biggest games of his life.

you sprint down the stands, careful not to lose your balance in all the excitement. you know that he had to meet with his team first, debrief and all that, but you couldn’t wait to meet him in the spot he said that he would be after the game, win or lose. you fiddle with the hem of your shirt—a copy of his jersey that he told you to please not get because it’s embarrasing, but you did it anyway. that’s what friends are for, after all.

you hear a rowdy crowd from behind the main doors and suddenly, they burst open, revealing the tangerine head and the legendary setter. they scurry off after waving to you, knowing that you’re kiyoomi’s friend. teammate after teammate file out, but no sight of him. you begin to let out a sigh, but your breath stops as soon as he steps out as the last of his team.

his mask just hands barely underneath his nose when his eyes flit around the scene, landing on you. the corners of his eyes crinkle in a smile that’s conveniently hidden behind his mask as he walks over to you. his pace is slow, and you quickly close the distance by sprinting up to him and nearly jumping on him to give him a massive hug.

“congrats!” you all but shriek into his ear, wrapping your arms around his neck. “i’m… i’m so proud of you.”

the tops of his cheeks redden from above his mask as his eyes flicker away when he grumbles a thank you, but wraps his arms around your waist. the hug is brief, as he doesn’t enjoy too much physicality with anyone, but his hands stay on your hips when you pull back, knowing his boundaries. he looks down at you, then pulls his mask off his ear to reveal a small, proud smile.

“thank you,” he says a little louder, the adrenaline of the game still pumping through him too much for him to keep up a stoic appearance. “thanks for being here.”

“i don’t think satori would’ve let me miss the game,” you breathe, your hands still around his neck. you don’t want to let go, even if he’s sweaty. “but i wouldn’t have missed it for-”

you’re effectively interrupted by his lips crashing into yours. you make a small sound against him, but dont draw away. instead, your grips tighten on each other. everything else melts away, even his teammates turning around to see his the way your jaw hangs open to let his tongue explore your mouth.

“damn, oomi!” atsumu calls before shoyo shoves him out of the door. you pull away from each other as that, kiyoomi’s eyes shining as he looks down on you.

“let’s… let’s get dinner tonight, yeah, sweetheart?”

submissions for the promised event are now closed but you can still click here to go to the nav page

© all work belongs to poursomesunaonme. do not copy and repost.

[jillsandwhichs]

Valenfield Oneshots/AU's Collection, Chapter 9, Morning Drive

Masterlist

Pairing: Jill Valentine & Chris Redfield

Summary: when Jill's car won't start before work, she calls Chris for a helping hand

Status of their relationship in this one shot: Close friends with evident feelings

WC: 2.1k

Type: Sfw

A/n: Hi! Hope you all enjoy. Please check out my masterlist, there's a lot of stuff there. You can get to know me, you can see the rules of my blog and then you can see all of my fanfictions. You'll be able to find the previous chapters to this fic and upcoming ones. You'll also be able to find my Wattpad & AO3. Comments, reblogs & likes are appreciated. Thank you

"Shit... Start, dammit!" Jill spoke to herself, trying her best to get her car to start. Jill's car just didn't seem to wanna start this morning. Which is of course, just her luck, considering they have a meeting at work today. Captain Wesker also said it was important, so she really couldn't miss it.

"Why me?" Jill groaned out, placing her head against the leather, black steering wheel, gripping it with her hands. Thoughts on what to do roamed through Jill's head. She seriously couldn't miss work today.

Calling a cab wouldn't work, it's to early and there's no way Jill is gonna spend her last bit of cash. Walking there wasn't an option either, it's too far from her apartment and even if it was close, it is way to cold out to walk around in her uniform. She could potentially call someone to pick her up, but she doesn't wanna seem like a burden, it's 7 am, the last thing she wants to do is disturb somebody, but she may have to.

Opening the car door, Jill stepped out of it and breathed deeply, the cool, winter air hitting her face, goose bumps forming on her slender arms. It was winter time, which was always beautiful around here. The snow was never to bad either, the main issue was how cold it would get, and the ice. Icy roads are Jill's absolute worst nightmare.

All of the bushes and shrubs were covered in white, crystal looking snow. The ground wasn't icy though, thankfully. Even so, it was 32⁰ out, it was fucking cold, and Jill was dreading the day, especially if they end up having to go out on a mission, or have an emergency.

Wandering back into her apartment, Jill jogged up the stairs to her room, keeping it down to not awake the other people sleeping. She stuck her key into the door, unlocking it and stepping inside. "Alrighty..." Jill said to herself, sighing deeply as she headed towards her bed, sitting down on it and laying back, contemplating what she wanted to do.

She sat back up and sighed, running her slim fingers through her healthy, short brunette hair. "Jesus Christ, what am I going to do..." Jill mumbled to herself, standing up and pacing around her small, yet homey apartment.

There were very little people she could call to pick her up, and she had to choose, it's a last resort. Barry? Definitely not, he's either with his family, or already at work. Joseph? Also no, he lives to far to drive out of his way just to pick her up.

Same goes for Captain Wesker, he's picked her up before and definitely wasn't amused by it. Besides, she'd be especially nervous with him, knowing they have that meeting today. She most likely wouldn't be able to shut up and would consistently ask questions about it. Jill wasn't the type to get anxious, but when it comes to her job, she really does.

Convoying to the telephone, Jill picked it up, inputting a phone number before hastily placing the phone up to her ear. All she could do was hope the person she contacted would pick up. The woman felt somewhat like a problem for calling someone to pick her up, she felt like an idiot.

Three rings later, and he picked up. "Hello?" A man's voice was on the other line, sounding somewhat tired. It was Chris, one of Jill's very close friends. "Hey Chris, it's me, Jill." She said with a friendly tone, waiting for a response. "Jill? Hi, yeah, hey. Sorry, I should've realized." Chris chuckled over the line.

"No worries, it's been awhile since we've spoken over the phone. "Sure has been... Did ya need something?" Chris asked, his tone soft. "Yeah, but it's totally okay if you can't or don't want to... I was just gonna see, if it wasn't a problem, could you possibly swing by my place and pick me up? My car won't start..." Jill questioned, hesitation filled within in her voice.

"Oh, of course I can, are you already ready?" Chris questioned, his tone had seemed more gleeful than it had before. "Yeah, I am, when do you think you'll be here?" She asked him. "Ten minutes at most, I'll head out here in a minute." He spoke. "Okay then, I'll leave you to it... Thank you Chris, I seriously appreciate it." "Anytime Jill." The call then ended.

When the call ended, Jill couldn't help but smile to herself. Chris was probably her bestest friend, she couldn't wait to get some one on one time with him. She treaded towards her kitchen counter, grabbing her wallet and house key before going back outside of her apartment complex.

Where she lived was in the center of Raccoon City. Downtown RC was beautiful and Jill really enjoyed it. Unlike most people, Jill did prefer to live in the city. It felt more alive to her, it was also just much more convenient. More stores nearby, work places nearby. Whilst, if you live out in the country side, it's more gas and time, therefore more money, to even get to a gas station.

Sitting down, Jill sat on the steps of the building. They were set right in front of the parking lot, so she'd be able to see when he pulled in. Either way, Jill knows Chris has a small black car. She also knows Chris wants a truck eventually. Jill's never necessarily cared for cars, or the one that she wants to own. As long as it's running, she could care less about the model, or what year it is.

Jill also felt uneasy, knowing Captain Wesker had something important for the team to discuss today. What if they had another mission? Or had a change in their team? What if someone is fired? Many thoughts ran through her head. She just hopes it's nothing to out of the blue.

-

Around ten minutes later, Jill watched as Chris's car pulled into the parking lot. Expiring softly, she stood up, tucking her wallet in her jean pocket. Chris hopped out of his truck and wandered over to the front of the complex, gazing at Jill as she stood up from the staircase.

"Hi." Jill said with a warm tone. "Hey." Chris replied, smiling at Jill. "Listen, I'm sorry for making you go out of your way to pick me up, I just didn't know how else I'd get to work." Jill spewed out. As she went on, Chris placed his hand on her shoulder firmly, chuckling to himself, "Jill, it's alright, you're my friend, I'd do anything for you." He spoke with honesty.

"Now, come on, let's get you in my car, I don't need you freezing to death." Chris snickered, nudging her to follow him. Jill heaved and followed directly behind him, ambling up to his car. Chris opened the passenger side door for Jill, allowing her to get settled in.

He was a gentleman, he cared about taking care of people, especially his friends. Jill was one of his closest friends, probably his most close. When it came to Jill, he wanted to be there for her ; to care for her, which is why he agreed to pick her up in the first place. He'd do anything for her.

Climbing into the driver's seat, Chris grunted and peeped a look at Jill, noticing that she was staring out to car window, which had tiny, wet cicles dripping down from the brim of said window. The man turned the car back on and pulled out of the parking lot, beginning to drive on the mostly empty road. He turned his head to see Jill and decided to make conversation.

"You okay?" Chris questioned, holding the steering wheel with one hand, his other resting on the center console. Jill gazed over at Chris as he drove, "I'm okay, just nervous, you know, about the meeting today." "Oh the meeting? Jill, you ain't got nothing to worry about. You see, Wesker will say somethings important, then turns out it's something as little as were getting new uniforms, or were having changed shifts." He cackled, attempting to ease Jill's timidness.

"Okay." Jill exhaled, her anxiety being relieved by a bit. "Wanna listen to some music?" Chris asked, placing his thumb and index finger on the stereo. "Sure, why not." Jill responded, looking at Chris with a calm look. Chris turned the radio up, the song 'There She Goes...' by the La's began to play, in which, they both liked a lot.

"Love this song." Chris muttered out. "Me too." Jill replied. The two sat in silence as the song played through it's course, it was only about two and a half minutes long anyways. Silence between them wasn't awkward, rather peaceful and well rounded. They didn't feel the need to have to talk constantly in order to find a sense of comfort between them.

"I really hope we don't get new uniforms, I look stupid enough in this one as it is." Jill laughed out, making conversation. "Oh hush, you don't look stupid." Chris retorted, smirking to himself. "I definitely do." "You look pretty, so stop." Chris demanded in a playful tone. "Pretty? Pretty is an overstatement." Jill countered his words.

"What is it with girls and hating the way they look? I swear, you and my sister would get along great! She's always like, "I'm so fat!" Or "Ew, why do I look like that?" As if she's not a good looking girl, I don't get it." Chris ranted, not in a mean way, rather a loving way. "It's just a girl's thing, I guess." Jill tittered. "I suppose so." Chris chuckled.

The next song to start playing was 'Runnin Down a Dream' by Tom Petty, whom Jill had happened to like a lot. "Oh I love Tom Petty." Jill spoke with glee in her voice. "My little sister does too, I definitely have to get you two to meet, she'd love you." Chris said with earnest in his tone. "She seems like a gem." Jill replied, giving Chris a look that made him feel so light and nervous, which no one ever makes him feel.

Chris gave her a look as well - his brown eyes full with kind heartedness and genuine care, his eyes were always full of those whilst looking at Jill.

"I'm dreading work today." Jill groaned out, looking away from Chris, the tension between the two breaking as she did. "I know you are." He chortled, turning the car into the correct lane. "How do you go to work everyday feeling happy? Or just being cool with it? I don't know, you always seem content with it." Jill expressed.

"I look at the positives to it. I make money, I learn things, I socialize, I see my friends... I see you..." Chris responded to her long question. "See me? That's a positive to your day?" Jill asked, surprise in her voice. "Well, I mean, yeah... Is that a bad thing? Is it weird?" "No, no, not at all, you saying that means a lot, I feel the same way." Jill spoke, trying to put her feelings out in some capacity.

The man couldn't help but smile to himself when she had said that, he wasn't alone in that feeling. Chris didn't particularly know how he felt about Jill. He knew he loved her, but in what way? Friendship? Romance? Both? Either way, Jill was very special to him, and he'd never let the precious bond of theirs go.

Jill also didn't know how she had felt for him. Chris was the first man she'd question her care and love for. Not necessarily in a bad way though, just in the sense of how? Is more than how a friend should feel for another friend? Is it how a lover should feel for their lover? Is it a combo of both? Jill hasn't quite settled on it yet.

Pulling into the parking lot, Chris sighed and cleared his throat, unlocking both of their doors before stepping out of his truck, trotting to Jill's side and helping her out. Gusts of cold, winter air hit the two of them rapidly. "Jeez..." Jill shivered. "Yeah, jeez is right." Chris laughed.

Gandering up at him, Jill began to speak with a kind tone, "Once again Chris, thank you for driving me to work today... I seriously appreciate it." Chris looked down at her and leaned up against his car, "Anything for you." He gave her a smirk. "Let's get you inside, you're clearly freezing." He chuckled, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

She giggled and blushed slightly, the two walking into the R.P.D building, side by side.

[magicandmaybe]

gave me the blues and then purple-pink skies.

for @bowserbabe from your secret santa! hi, it's been wonderful getting to know you through the occasional asks i sent. i haven't written fanfiction before, although i do write original content soo you're going to be the first person to read this! any and all criticism is welcome, i'm just looking to start writing more from now on! i'm also super grateful for @tmsource for organizing this so i could stop putting off writing and start again! happy new year everyone:)

Teresa Lisbon was not in a good mood. This was made evident by the fact that she was pressing her thumb and index finger on her temple in a desperate attempt to soothe the headache plaguing her. With a defeated sigh, she opened her eyes and made herself look at the notes sprawled over her desk. This was going to take a while. 

~~~

The Texan humidity wasn’t doing Cho any favors. He silently cursed the faulty air conditioning in his office as he made his way to his old friend’s desk. 

“Any luck with those files?” He asked, hoping Lisbon had struck gold after they had all started reviewing the case files a few hours ago. She looked up, brows furrowed, as if there was a storm brewing right at the bridge of her nose. 

“Not yet. It looks like we’ve exhausted all our leads and the case still doesn’t make any sense,” she replied, her exasperation getting the better of her. 

The team’s morale had been at an all time low for the past few days; their latest case had left them grasping at straws for new leads. 

Cho attempted to change the subject, wondering how Abbott managed to handle days like this and still close cases while he was boss. 

“How’s the new recruit?” He asked her. 

Lisbon groaned. “Hopeless. I don’t know what he was taught at Quantico but it definitely wasn’t how to canvass an area. I had more lack sending Wylie out into the field to do his job.”

The agency has brought in someone to replace Vega a little after the incident at the diner. Both Cho and Lisbon exchanged a silent look of shared understanding. The loss of Vega had hit the team hard; in terms of both their efficiency and morale. 

Her unmatched enthusiasm was a tough act to follow, and the new recruit was far from capable. Lisbon knew that Cho had taken the loss personally, he was more hesitant now, more cautious. Vega had looked up to him and he knew it; and so he let the memory of her serve as a reminder of his duty towards the safety of his team and occasionally, the fact that she used to make him laugh. 

She had been irreplaceable but Cho still took to reassuring Lisbon. “He will learn. They all do.” He also made a mental note to have a chat with their new addition later on. 

“I know, I know,” Lisbon said impatiently; “But I still can’t get over this case. How can two seemingly unrelated people end up dead in three same place, at the same time and with the same toxins used to poison them runnjng through their blood?”

“Did forensic get back to you in the evidence found at the crime scene?” Cho asked. 

Lisbon shook her head. “A dead end. No DNA or prints at the scene. Everything was wiped clean. Toxicology is working on identify in the poison used but they say it looks like nothing they’ve ever seen before.”

Lisbon crossed her arms in annoyance. “We need fresh eyes. A new perspective. We need…” she trailed off not wanting to finish her sentence. 

“Jane.” Cho said. And there was the white elephant in the room; the unmissable Jane-sized hole at the agency. 

Lisbon had woken up one day to find her husband missing, with a note beside her saying that he had gone for a run and will catch up with her at work. He never showed up. 

She went home sick with worry only to find him by the lake with a canvas. He had been trying to paint one of the trees by the lake. 

He told her that he wanted to take a break from solving cases. So she had accepted it and they moved on. 

Except, the couch by the big, open windows remained empty and forlorn, as Lisbon and Cho looked over at it. 

“Go home.” Cho said. “Get some rest. We can start again tomorrow.” Lisbon tried protesting but was met with silence. 

~~~

The walk from the doors of the building she worked at to the nearest coffee shop was a short one, but Lisbon could feel her feet dragging behind her in defiance. Yet, it was the sight of a tuft of blond hair that led her to quicken her pace. 

“Jane?” She said in disbelief. Her husband turned, a coy smile dancing on his lips. 

“Teresa! Fancy seeing you here,” he said. 

“Oh please. You knew I was coming. Did Cho call you?”

“Well I happened to be in the neighborhood. And yes, Cho did call me. He said he was concerned.”

“Did he beg you to come back?”

“I could tell he was contemplating it.”

“And so you’ve been standing outside my favourite coffee shop for what, ten minutes?”

“Fifteen actually. Look, I bought you coffee.”

Teresa couldn’t help but smile as she plucked the he coffee cup out of his hands; and with that it felt like an enormous weight had been lifted off her shoulders. 

~~~

As she sipped her coffee, Teresa stared at his bright blue eyes. She wondered if she will ever get used to seeing them, first thing in the morning. Would she still feel time slow down every time he smiled at her or made her laugh?

Jane looked up from his cup of tea with a questioning look. 

“What?”

It took everything in Teresa to stop herself from blushing as she replied, 

“Nothing.”

All he did was smile and pull out a book from the small bag he was carrying. 

“What’s that?” She asked. 

“A book I found at the library today,” he said. He looked at the cover before declaring that it was Pride and Prejudice. 

“Austen huh. I never took you for the reading type,” Teresa said, “Let alone a romantic.”

“Why, I’m incredibly romantic,” Jane said, pretending to be deeply offended. Yet, she noted, the smile never left his eyes. 

“I saw this on your bookshelf when we visited your old house a few years ago. The spine was cracked and the pages dog eared. You must have loved it,” he said. 

She remembered spending her nights rereading her mother’s old and battered copy, hoping she would be transported to Elizabeth Bennett’s world. She had never told him that. Yet he still knew. 

“For years I’ve let Red John dictate my every move. Chasing him was my purpose,” he continues, “Until it wasn’t.” 

Jane let out a small sigh and continued looking ahead, deep in thought. 

“So, what will you do?” Teresa asked him. She would follow him to the ends of the earth if she could, fate be damned. 

Jane didn’t hesitate when he replied. He’s as sure of this as he is as sure of her. 

“Whatever I feel like doing. I’ve got time.”

He paused and looked at her with a small smile. A smile which could win the hearts of many, which he only reserves for her. 

“We’ve got time.”

[deathsplaything]

LOCATION: Outside the Good Neighbor's Meeting Place TIMING: Current PARTIES: Alistair, Daiyu (@bountyhaunter) & Vic (@natusvincere) SUMMARY: After a Good Neighbors meeting, Daiyu mentions to Alistair about swinging by The Keep, and Vic overhears and intervenes.

“I was here when the group was founded, I’ve been here since the beginning, Winnifred trusts me more than she’d trust you. And if you were to go running to her because you heard things? She’d believe me far more than she’d ever believe you.”

It had been two days since the slayer confronted him since Alistair folded so easily like they were just waiting for the opportunity to tell someone. They were a coward, and they let their hand show to their opponent. They hadn’t practiced a bit of magic since the incident. They were so lost in their head that they didn’t realize that Brutus had stopped walking, only jolting out of their racing thoughts when Brutus let out a whine and knew that it was someone that he recognized. “Oh, who is it now, bud?” Alistair half-heartedly complained, knowing that it had to be someone who had doted on him before to have him break in his walk so easily. Taking Brutus to meetings wasn’t something Alistair liked to do. It was walking into a place of nefarious people who all had their own motives and showing them all that they had a weakness in the shape of a large black lab. But even still, Winnifred had insisted they bring Brutus along, so they did. 

Alistair allowed himself to look through Brutus’s eyes, seeing the familiar face of Daiyu looking like she had a hand caught in the cookie jar. Not thinking much of it, Alistair severed the connection and frowned. “Daiyu! Was the meeting not enough for you?” They asked with an amused smirk, shifting their weight to one foot and then the other. If Daiyu were dangerous, or danger was lurking around, Brutus would alert them, so they forced themselves to relax a little. At least it wasn’t the stray vampire Alistair once knew, seeing as how that woman had Brutus eating out of the palm of her hand quite literally.

_____

She liked the Good Neighbor meetings at Winifred’s home. There was something so quaint about it, all these people coming together in the name of community. Besides, the more Daiyu surrounded herself with the ignorant humans, the more she felt for them. Plenty of them had people in their life that had gone missing or had died in what were called freak accidents or animal attacks — and they hoped to do something against it now. It was such a pure drive. It made her feel vindicated whenever she and the other insiders pulled another threat out of the equation. (It also made her feel dirty, because these humans with their pure intent had no idea about the cages, about the Keep, about the underbelly of the operation.) 

Still, she liked the meetings. She’d even brought pigs in a blanket this time, trying to match up with the other people who brought food. They weren’t as good as Nancy’s cooking, but it was something. She had also brought something else, but that was kept in her bag. More and more now, she’d been bringing rations of undead food to the Keep, having developed a system of filling ziplock bags with bits and bops of blood and flesh. She was itching to leave, even if her pigs in a blanket were a semi-hit, knowing that she’d have to deliver the aquasturge remains before they went bad.

So she was waiting awkwardly to leave, her focus on her goal only dissuaded when Brutus (the second best boy in the world) approached her. “Bruuuutey,” she cooed, her shoulders relaxing somewhat. She crouched down to scratch the dog’s ears, only paying half a mind to Alistair. “Me? Nothing too cool, unless you consider laying in bed and rewatching Buffy plans.” She rose to her full, unimpressive height. “Gotta step by …” Eyes shifted around. “The keep first, and then I’m driving home. What about you?”

____

Unable to stop from rolling their eyes at Daiyu’s plans to watch Buffy, Alistair crossed their arms over their chest as they allowed Brutus to get excited over Daiyu. Alistair may not allow themselves the luxury of friends, but that didn’t mean the same sentiment was extended to their furry companion. “He only gets like this if he’s been given excessive treats from a person,” Alistair told Daiyu with an accusatory glance towards the woman. “At least you have something planned, I guess.” They muttered, Buffy was alright. They’d seen it, of course. But they never really got into shows like that. 

Then, Daiyu spoke of the keep, and immediately they shushed her. “Keep yer mouth shut.” They snarled quietly at her, Scottish accent becoming thicker as anxiety flooded their system. “Ye cannae just go ‘round mentionin’ that,” Alistair warned her. “Secret for a bloody reason.” The hissed out before calling Brutus back to their side, and Brutus did so with a wag of his tail. 

Deciding to move on from Daiyu’s blunder of openly speaking about the keep where anyone could hear, they shook their head, letting out an exasperated sigh. “Just walking Brutus,” Alistair explained, holding up the leash. “I don’t do much, part of being ancient, and all that.” They spoke, recalling the conversation they’d had online where Daiyu had insinuated that they were old as dirt. That hurt.

__

They were caught. Not red-handed, but definitely caught. Daiyu feigned innocence, throwing up her hands. “I am not guilty! I would never give a dog excessive treats!” This was true in the case of Nugget, because he was her dog and she needed him well trained. (Trust and believe, he still got plenty of treats and belly rubs). “It’s not my fault that I always have dog treats on me and that he just … finds them …” 

Alistair switched code real quick, though, and spoke in an accent she’d only ever heard in movies. “Fuck, calm down. It’s just a word, we use it all the time. Like … we keep using it …” Daiyu grinned at her own ingenuity, but it was a bit of a show. Alistair’s words panged in her chest, reminding her of her stupidity. No matter the bravado, she was still the fool. And so she acted in accordance to it, an oppositional habit she’d never lost, “It’s not like I keep saying we’ve got vamps on lock down there.”

She let out a laugh, letting her volume grow to its usual loudness, “Ah, poor fella. Gotta take care of your ancient knees and hips, don’t you? Do be careful when you go out walking Brutus … Don’t want you to be like the lady in the commercial.” She changed her tone:  “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”

__

The more Daiyu spoke, the more irritated Alistair grew. They could put up with a lot, but her attitude just bothered them to no end. “Shut. Up.” They hissed as she mentioned vampires, having half a mind to whack her, but kept their hands to themselves through some small miracle. “Ye say these things and then someone overhears. Someone that shouldn’t overhear.” They continued, tugging on Brutus’s lead to get him to fall back in line, which Brutus did with a huff and lower of his head. 

“No, I don’t… my joints are fine, thank you.” He snarled, waving the woman away. “Seriously. If this is something you want to talk about, we can’t do it here out on the streets.” He warned her, tone becoming hushed. “Things are happening. Things we should probably talk about.” He thought to Emilio, to the slayer who had told him he was going to bring it all down. “Things you probably deserve to know.” He concluded, letting out a tired sigh. “Come on Brutus, let’s go home.” He muttered, ready to be on his way.

__

It had started with a smell.  The meeting had been uneventful enough, like they usually were.  Vic certainly thought there might be more action when she joined the Good Neighbors, but nothing was as intense as the rumors she’d heard before she’d wormed her way in.  Perhaps that was why she had taken it upon herself to make the Good Neighbors interesting and use the power they wielded to rid the community of petty crime, like using the wrong recycling bin.  Sure, it wasn’t her original intention when joining, but it sure was entertaining.

But the sweet, intoxicating smell of blood during the meeting was incredibly distracting.  It was bad enough that someone had brought pigs in a blanket (entirely distasteful, if you asked Vic), but they had to smuggle in the nectar of life, too?  They were all lucky she was extremely well-fed.  She barely contributed to the conversation at hand, and instead spent her time trying to decipher exactly where the smell was coming from.  Her focus eventually landed on the small, squirmy woman sat in the corner (she probably should have learned these people’s names months ago, but after learning the leader and her dog shared a name, she needed a break from learning for a while), and her eyes stayed on her for the rest of the meeting.  The fact that she had blood with her at all was strange- she definitely had a heartbeat, so Vic knew she had to investigate further.

As the rest of the crew scurried home, Vic stayed behind, pretending to pick at the food people had brought but watching the woman out of the corner of her eye.  When she seemed to strike up a conversation with another member (she couldn’t place their name either… perhaps she should suggest name tags next time), Vic pretended to see herself out, stopping just behind the threshold to get a good listen.  She had been far enough away to stay out of sight, but close enough that her keen hearing picked up exactly what was being said.  Keep?  Secret?... Vamps?!  This was exactly the intel she’d been waiting for- saving vampires was exactly the kind of retribution she’d been looking for when she joined the Good Neighbors?  Was this finally it?

This was definitely it, and Vic needed to jump at her chance before the two nameless secret-holders got away.  She stepped on the other side of the threshold, making herself known with a throat-clear and some partially real confidence.  “Someone’s overheard”, she said with a nod, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at the two expectantly.  She couldn’t help her prideful smirk, feeling like she’d just uncovered some buried treasure like a regular Lara Croft.  “Do you two care to share those things you were about to discuss?  Or should I sound the alarm for the rest of the meeting to come back and hear the full agenda?”

__

It was like oil on a fire, the way Alistair towered over her and hissed at her to shut up. Their anger was exhilarating and Daiyu knew, somewhere in a deep part of her, that she should not provoke the necromancer now (or perhaps ever) and certainly not in this way. But she wanted to. Sometimes it was just nice to push buttons and see how far she could go before a hammer came to fall. Would Alistair crack, if she kept yapping? “No,” she said, because she had never shut up a day in her life, especially not after being requested to do so. She gave the other a shit eating grin, then looked at Brutus. “Call me if he breaks his hip.” 

She was ready to ask the other what they were going on about when someone joined them. Her shit-eating grin turned into something awkwardly surprised, all teeth and wide eyes. “Viiiiic!,” she said, as if she was very familiar with the Good Neighbor. She wasn’t all that much, but she could pretend to. “Huh? I don’t know what you’re on about … About Alistair breaking his hip, you mean? It is quite embarrassing that his bones are this brittle, but like, it happens. That’s nature. And they are sad it will get in the way of the Good Neighbors, but it’s going to be fine, because they’re still here to contribute.” She wasn’t a good liar, but she was a good talker. And this kind of nonsense? She could fill a room with it. 

__

As soon as someone rounded the corner and was questioning them, Alistair knew that Daiyu had really gotten them into the thick of it. They closed their eyes and pinched the bridge of their nose, trying their hardest to keep themselves calm and cool, as if nothing was wrong past the fact that Daiyu didn’t know how to keep quiet about sensitive topics. They tapped their foot in annoyance, still very eager to walk off and pretend none of it was happening. “My joints are fine,” they snarled under their breath before putting on a polite smile that was directed towards the stranger who was questioning the two of them. 

“Daiyu here is very eager to push every last button that I have left, that’s all,” Alistair spoke, smiling tight and very close to breaking into a snarl. Daiyu kept going, and kept talking about how they were a burden to the group. Well, in some ways, they were. But still, it was a step too far. They wanted so badly to reach out and… and what? Smack her? Throttle her? Grab her shoulders and shake her as hard as they could. No, they had to get a hold of themselves. 

Their secret was on the edge of being exposed, and they couldn’t dare to let it escape. This woman, Vic, as Daiyu called her, could be a zealot as much as Winnifred was. There was no telling. They thought of Tommy, of how important it was to keep him safe right now. So he swallowed his annoyance and fear and put on a neutral expression. “Winnifred has entrusted us with more than you know about.” They spoke in an icy tone, eager to be rid of the eavesdropper. “Something you are not privy to knowing as we are.”

__

Wow.  This person had remembered her name.  That was more than Vic could say for herself.  It might have started with a G… or was it a D?   Denise…?  Deirdre…?   “Actually, Diana, I was referring to your little ‘vamps on lockdown’ comment which was, well… incredibly attention grabbing.”  She let her voice raise slightly as she said this, indicating to the two in front of her that she was not bluffing about calling everyone back.  This kind of intel was exactly what she had been waiting for, and she was not about to lose it because two goons thought she could be outsmarted by charm and wit.  She mimicked the polite smile that was thrown her way, clapping her hands together as she looked between the two of them expectantly, as if she were a school principal looking between two children and not a stranger infiltrating a private conversation.  If the situation were reversed, she would have scolded herself for her lack of manners.  

Daiyu.  Right.  She would make sure to remember that now.  “Tell me, Alistair, if that is your real name, is there a hierarchy to membership that I wasn’t made aware of when I joined?  Because I was under the impression that this was a group filled with equity.  Should I contact Winnifred and let her know I was led astray?”  She watched their expressions for any hint of a bluff, any twinge she could call them out on.  “Because if you two are locking up vampires I think that’s something she’d be mighty interested in hearing about, don’t you?”  How dare these two sully the good name of the Neighbors with their nefarious on-goings? The rumors she’d been hearing must have been about them, not the group as a whole.

__

Alistair could not have made a more apt assessment of Daiyu if he’d tried. She did want to press every button they had and then some, even if this was not the time nor place. Maybe there wasn’t any — Alistair held seniority and perhaps even rank over her when it came to the inner circle, but that kind of authority had never held her back. That just made her want to push the buttons harder. She was about to comment on it and support whatever Alistair was saying when Vic interjected.

The irony of being named Diana, goddess of the hunt, was lost on her, and not just because she was realizing how hot the water at their feet was. “Oooooh,” she said, nodding, her head scrambling for a fitting lie. “Have you not seen that … YouTube miniseries? It’s about vampires during Covid, you know. Vamps on lockdown. No one’s locking up vampires.” But — shit, the lie would and could not hold up. Her cheeks grew a little red. This was why she preferred to her weapons and her woods and her beasts. Those didn’t require clever social communications. Those just required tracking and silence and brute violence.

Bruteness she could do, though. “I wish you all the fucking luck going tattle-tale to Winnifred,” she stated boldly. Winnifred would be mad, but she’d be able to handle it, right? Daiyu was sure this suburban mom could be kept silent. “Also, what the hell are you even talking about? Vampires aren’t real. That’s ridiculous. You must’ve gotten lost in the town forums!” 

__

As soon as the two started arguing with each other, Alistair pinched the bridge of their nose and sighed, shaking their head. “You’re a certified idiot,” Alistair muttered to Daiyu before turning to look in Vic’s general direction with a calculated expression. Interested she’d be indeed since it was her idea, Alistair thought to themselves with a roll of their eyes. “Daiyu has fantastical ideas that need to be kept in check,” they spoke simply, expression hardened with their arms crossed over their chest. 

“It’s cute that you think you know so much, however. It’s no secret that there’s a hierarchy.” They responded in a short, clipped tone. “I was here when the group was founded, I’ve been here since the beginning, Winnifred trusts me more than she’d trust you. And if you were to go running to her because you heard things? She’d believe me far more than she’d ever believe you.” Alistair took a step toward Vic, lips curling up in a snarl. “So I suggest you know your place before you go making an absolute fool of yourself.”

__

Vic squinted her eyes at Daiyu, scowling at her sad attempt at a lie.  Did she take her for an idiot?  “I’m not a fool.  I’ve seen nearly all of the youtube miniseries, and none of them are about vampires protecting themselves from infectious disease.”  She moved a little closer to the other woman, an attempt at appearing intimidating.  Normally, she would go right along with pretending her own species didn’t exist, but secrets be damned, it seemed like the fate of some undead were in her hands.  There was no time for lies now.

“Cut the crap, Daiyu.  Anyone who’s lived in this town for more than a week can see the truth.  You know they exist as well as I know you’re lying.”  Her eyes turned to Alistair as they tried to make an excuse for the other woman, but she just shook her head at their words.  “Oh, really?  Does seniority beget morals these days?  I wasn’t aware the Good Neighbors were so… nefarious.  Should I put in a motion to change the name at our next meeting?”  Alistair was right, though, at least about her place in the group.  Maybe she needed to try more desperate measures.

“Perhaps I should go straight to the town itself, then?  I’m sure Wicked’s Rest would be mighty interested to learn that a large portion of their population is at risk for being ‘vamps on lockdown’, don’t you think?  I guess if I wasn’t privy to what you were up to here, going to them would be my only solution.”

—

Something hot blazed in her chest when Alistair called her an idiot and spoke about her as if she was a toddler in need of controlling. Daiyu stared daggers at him and then at Vic, too, who was moving closer to her as if she held any physical threat over her. She didn’t think twice before shoving her, palms flat against the other’s shoulders, “Back the fuck off,” she snapped, resisting the urge to shove Alistair and his apt yet hurtful words, too. That urge was resisted, though.

“The miniseries totally exists, too, you’re just too much of a fucking boomer to find it,” she snapped, “You’re totally delusional.” But Alistair wasn’t denying the existence of vampires, nor the fact that they were locking them up — which made Daiyu take pause. She glared between the two of them, feeling somehow like she was the one out of the know between them all. Maybe she really was an idiot. The heat continued to blaze in her chest.

So she let out a sound, something between a snarl and a laugh, “The town would be fucking glad to know that we’re rounding up the people responsible for all the disappearances and freak murders, idiot.” It felt good to call Vic one, when it was her who was the fool. “Don’t know what’s nefarious about that.”

__

Alistair listened as Daiyu reminded Vic of the purpose of the Good Neighbors, taking in a breath slowly as they attempted to keep a level head. There would be no good rising to the girls’ anger levels. So they slinked back, holding tightly onto Brutus’s lead with a deep sigh escaping their lips. There was something to this Vic woman, who seemed so worried about vampires and what they were doing. 

Something that made Alistair pause. “What do you know of vampires? Better yet, why do you care so much about their well-being?” She was busy interrogating them, why weren’t they interrogating her right back? “I mean, if you have nothing to hide, then you’d simply see what we do as par for the course, but you’re not. Instead, you want to know what we’re doing, something you should be already aware of, if you’ve attended the meetings and paid attention.” 

Narrowing their gaze, Alistair leaned toward Vic, a sneer on their face. “Sounds like you’re hiding something, too. And you know what I’m capable of if you’ve paid attention.” They bared their teeth, green smoke beginning to swirl around the woman’s feet. “So don’t. Test. Me.”

__

Vic was taken aback as she was shoved backwards, although she didn’t let the emotions of that shock play on her face.  Instead, she smiled at Daiyu, raising her eyebrows in challenge.  “I think I’ve touched a nerve”, she said to no one in particular.  “What’s nefarious is blanketing an entire population of beings as immoral murderers.  It must be exhausting to live in a gray world and only see black and white.”  She was being a hypocrite, and she knew it.  Half a decade ago she would have been donating millions to the Good Neighbors if it meant they were locking vampires up, no nuance needed.

She wanted to crawl out of her skin, because Alistair, who wasn’t supposed to know her at all, seemed to be staring deep into her soul with a magnifying glass.  Subconsciously, her hands fiddled with her cloaking bracelet.  “I’m a fucking open book, Big Dog.  I didn’t realize it was such a crime to care about those unlike myself.”

As the smoke gathered around her feet, she looked up at Alistair, then over at Daiyu, then back down.  Oh, shit.  Smoke was never good, especially not when it was that color.  Perhaps it was time to swallow her pride, maybe she was approaching this wrong.  “Look”, she said with a sigh, biting her tongue.  “I’m not-... I’ve heard the two of you talk in the meetings.  I know you’re not bad people.  Perhaps I’ve misunderstood what I overheard…”  Was this pathetic?  She wasn’t sure.  She was hoping, if someone were writing a story about her life, that she sounded more manipulative and cool, instead of just like a groveling idiot.  “Maybe you could explain what you were talking about before I walked in, and we can settle this the easy way.”

__

Her hands were itching from that shove, sharp violent instincts longing for more than such a simple act — but she held back from starting a brawl in Winnifred’s basement. Daiyu really wanted to wipe that smug grin from Vic’s face, though, but it seemed Alistair was taking care of that. She watched as smoke gathered around Vic’s feet and took a step back from it, something like a grimace marring her face.

That seemed to shut Vic up, though, or at least make her speak in a way that was less accusatory. Not that Daiyu liked being called a not-bad person, as she had no idea if that was true. She didn’t want to explain herself, didn’t want to get into what the Good Neighbors (inner circle edition) were all about — because she didn’t know any more. Questions of morality and goodness were harder than algebra to her and so she preferred to avoid them.

So she latched onto something Vic had said, “We are not blanketing any population as immortal murderers, or whatever you said — we just take care of the actual threats, the actual fuckheads that do harm.” The vampires who liked coating themselves with blood, the lamia that ate indiscriminately, the werewolves that didn’t know the first thing about learning self control. “I don’t think we owe you any type of explanation, right Alistair?” She was looking up at them, considering they were causing the flames. “Just trust we are –” Fuck. She wasn’t sure how to be convincing. “Living up to our titles of good neighbors.”

__

As soon as Daiyu began talking, Alistair realized what they were doing. The eerie smoke dissipated and left them standing there with a snarl on their face. Point proven. “There’s more to the Good Neighbors than meets the eye,” Alistair explained, dropping the snarl and replacing it with a look of indifference. “There’s an inner working to the those who hold a position of power within the Good Neighbors.” They waved a hand as they spoke, “and you have to trust that we know what we’re doing.” 

In truth, Alistair no longer had a clue what they were doing. After they’d been visited by Mikael, they’d hesitated to heal people using the monsters in the keep as fodder. Maybe Mikael was right, maybe it was Alistair who was the monster, not the other way around. The fear and hesitation of it all was clear as day on their face for a split second before they blinked and brought their expression back to neutral.

__

Vic balked, breathing slow out of her nose as she considered her next move.  As the two in front of her explained more, she was beginning to realize that this was much more complicated than she thought.  “If that’s true, it might be something I could get behind”, she said, blinking toward Daiyu. Some vampires were bad, right?  Just like some people were bad.  Nuance. And then more information spilled out, from Alistair this time, as they shared about the inner circle.  Despite the hiccup, Vic was still proud of herself for getting this out of them and not getting kicked out of the group.  Not… yet, anyway.

“And how exactly does one become a… better Neighbor? Is that what the inner circle is called?  Better Neighbors?  It should be… perhaps we could workshop that.”  Vic really should have been more active in those meetings, she had great ideas. She didn’t know if she had any interest in joining per say, but it was good to know that there would be an option, if worse came to worst.  For the time being, Vic was satisfied, if not a little embarrassed, that she’d managed to uncover something she’d been wondering about for a long while.

“No one needs to know about this conversation”, she said, looking between the two so she could avoid eye contact with both of them.  “I’ll simply… forget it ever happened, and we can spend the next few meetings ignoring each other for good measure.”  She wouldn’t pretend like it never happened, of course, but Daiyu and Alistair didn’t need to know that.  “I…apologize…if my initial nature seemed threatening or abrasive.  Many people call me Karen, and I’m sure you know what that implies.”  After a beat, she said, “I’m working on it.”

—

“As you should. You’re a good neighbor. You’d condemn someone who litters and damages stuff too, right? So.” It was clearly the same. Daiyu thought it sounded kind of logical, anyway, even if she was pretty bad at creating or seeing nuance. She just wanted to say something, to feel like she had the upper hand in this situation even if she’d already lost her cool once or twice. 

At the notion that Vic should become a member of the inner circle, she raised an eyebrow. She was just a human. A lucky human, who wasn’t as ignorant as she should be but still was just that. She did not bring any strength or training to the table, or magic. “Um, you’re picked. By Winnifred. She’s like super picky, though.” If it sounded like a brag, it was because it was — Daiyu still found some pride in having been accepted into that inner circle, even if she sometimes found herself unable to sleep over images of the Keep. 

She flashed a thumbs up to Vic. She was about to accept this solution, but let her eyes flash up to Alistair first. Daiyu would prefer not to report this to Winnifred, especially as it was her fault that Vic had overheard their conversation. But while she’d gladly keep her lips sealed about this slip up, she wasn’t sure the necromancer would, too. “Totally forgot this convo happened already,” she said, to make her own stance clear. “You totes are a Karen. We need ‘em though.”

__

Daiyu was right, Winnifred was picky. And Alistair considered themselves lucky to be one of the firsts in her inner circle, even if they spent the majority of the time wishing it wasn’t happening. They had their means to an end, and that’s the only reason they involved themselves. Of course, it was going to catch up to them in the end as more people found out about it. “Keep doing what you’re doing, keep sticking to your resolve, and perhaps she will notice you,” Alistair remarked with an idle shrug of their shoulders. 

As Daiyu spoke of forgetting the interaction, Alistair let out a soft hum and shrugged their shoulders. “Forgotten,” they murmured, waving a hand in dismissal. They would prefer to not have to explain the whole situation to Winnifred, who would absolutely throw a fit about the whole thing. They didn’t want to have to deal with it. Daiyu slipped up, so what? It happens. To err is to human or whatever, right? Despite all her shortcomings and annoying antics, Alistair had to admit there was a part of them that liked Daiyu. So they were willing to let it go. “The Good Neighbors is nothing but Karens,” Alistair then complained with a frown. 

“Just keep doing what you’re doing and Winnifred is sure to notice you. Care. That’s the point of the group, is it not? You care enough to keep people safe from harm.” They raised a brow as they looked in the direction of Vic’s voice. There was an inner turmoil raging within Alistair, knowing that not caring enough was what was getting them into this mess in the first place. Not caring got them into trouble, not caring was the reason they were falling apart at the seams. Maybe it was because, after all this time, they found themselves caring in the end. The guilt was tearing them apart, and sooner or later, they’d have to do something about it, wouldn’t they?

__

“Well, of course.  But littering and property damage are inherently immoral, so of course I’d condemn those types of things.”   Vic had actually already condemned plenty of people for doing those many things, and placed them under citizen’s arrests, as was clearly the only proper response.  But how could Daiyu compare those things and what they had been discussing?  People who were turned into monsters against their will and monsters who threw garbage on the ground because they were lazy, inconsiderate slugs could not be any different, in her eyes.

Both Daiyu and Allistair seemed to imply that only the best of the best were picked for the inner circle, and she knew it was the only way she’d gain more information.  But being silent in meetings was, apparently, not going to get her any further.  So she had to shmooze.  It wouldn’t be too hard, right?  She had done it for years to slayers and skeeze balls alike.  It was probably like riding a bike, she surmised, and it would be easy to get back into it.  

Except it hadn’t been so easy to manipulate Daiyu and Allistair, had it?  

But then, maybe it had.  Almost as quick as she had asked it, they were both agreeing to forget this whole conversation ever happened.  A smart, easy solution that benefitted all three of them, it seemed.  But Vic still had what she wanted, even if it was only mere crumbs of information when she had been seeking a whole loaf of bread.  No matter- she was sure it would only be a matter of time before she moved up the ladder, getting her one step closer to protecting vampires once and for all. 

[cantsomeoneelsedoit]

Ch 55: Use Your Rules

Oh fun! An old-fashioned human+monster 2-on-2!

I'm not sure what this kind of mixed-doubles fight genre is called, but it's different than regular summoning where the humans just sit back and watch--Otherwise I would've filled this page with tokusatsu gifs like I really wanted to

The chapter title "Use Your Rules" already reminded me of this meme and then Tozuka had to go and give Spoil that face, so this happened...

I am so sorry everyone the doctors say my brain is spoiled

Poor Spoil. He's really going through it!

Juiz tells him that even if she eliminated him, another rule would compensate for his loss. That's an interesting idea in UU and it explains why they had a concept of "years" even though they didn't have Revolution in place.

The idea that the world will "fill in the gaps" if a rule goes missing raises the question of what is considered a necessary or sufficient aspect of the world. In Ch 14, Spoil claimed to be a necessary rule ⬇️

Maybe he just has an inflated ego and he's not actually necessary. Or is Juiz just bluffing when she says that he's replaceable? He might just be jabbering, though. He was in a very different situation when he was bragging to Fuuko!

Wow, Juiz is scary!

She immediately informs him that he's at a disadvantage-- it's crazy how many steps ahead she's already planned for. She knew Billy's plan, his goal, his weapon, etc, and she knew how their Pokemon would match up.

Spoil's such a brat! I love him! He's not even looking at Burn when he shoots; he's looking at Juiz because he's about to say, "See? I told you!"

But he gets socked in the jaw by Burn instead.

Poor lil feller

Billy tells Tella to stay back and that he'll handle the situation. Is he really planning to kill Juiz?!

It looks like Billy might be thinking the same thing Tella's saying.

Juiz's focus and speed with her saber is ridiculous!

My love for Mihawk knows no bounds, but Juiz did that with a smaller sword and at a shorter distance, j/s. Then again, he's lazy and she's a go-getter, so it makes sense.

I love the layout on the next page.

Unfortunately, that's kind of true for Juiz as far as Union leadership, as well. Because Juiz is so honest to her own sense of right and wrong, her actions can be predictable.

She uses Unjustice on Burn, who GRRR?s back at her. Can Burn not speak at all?

Acting against his sense of Justice, Burn blocks Billy's bullet from hitting Juiz, revealing that Burn really is on Billy's side, and not just a hostage. Spoil can't resist trolling.

"Mr. Stubble!" I'm glad someone acknowledged it! Billy's been out here in the wild for a while now...

What's the favor that Burn is paying back to Billy?

Concept-types seem to be more overarching and multifaceted compared to phenomenon-types. Winter has more going on than just being cold, for example.

Is this why Spoil has a chip on his shoulder? Does he have a bit of an inferiority complex caused by God's favoritism and phenomenon-types being snobby to him? Or maybe he's just kind of a SPOILed brat and so he likes to complain about others-- it won't be clearer until we meet more UMAs that show inter-UMA dynamics lol.

To illustrate his point, Burn shines a bright light into the sky. It seems the favor he owes Billy is that Billy has given him a chance to meet his "maker."

Interestingly, Spoil can understand Burn! I wonder if Billy also had a way to talk to Burn and negotiate their partnership. Could he have used a version of Tella's equipment to allow Burn to speak?

The "childhood memories" line cracks me up. It hadn't even occurred to me that UMA would have life stages.

Use your rules to make humans suffer? WTF, God? Because it seems like some of these rules could be used to help humans under the right circumstances, like Burn providing warmth or Clothy making clothes. So if there's a specific directive to be malicious about it, then it means that God really is only interested in making the humans miserable to force them to try to overcome their circumstances.

Billy assumed that Spoil was aiming at him, but the beam actually hit the ground. From the way Spoil thinks aloud, ("So I can start shooting once he uses Unstoppable, was that it?") it's obvious that Juiz has instructed him on what to do here, and he's surprisingly obedient.

Her plan worked, and Billy gets hit with the Spoil beam. Tella is AGHAST. Billy had told him he'd take care of everything, and Tella never doubted him. Even so, he doesn't rush forward to get involved--he stays back and follows orders.

We know that Billy can use Unjustice because he used it on Tatiana. So why won't he use it on Juiz? He claims that her mindset is predictable and easy to read, so it's probably safe to assume what her vision of justice is, yet he still doesn't try to negate it.

If Billy is holding back, it could be that he simply doesn't want to kill the person who has the most information about the way this world works. Juiz's tears are sincere, but Billy's still hiding something...

Masterpost